m 


^WHENCE,  WHAT, 
WHERE? 


VIEW  OF  THE  ORIGIN,  NATURE,  AND 
DESTINY  OF  MAN. 


BY 


JAMES  R.  ^flCHOLS,  M.D.,A.M., 

AUTHOR  OF  "FIRESIDE  SCIENCE,"  "CHEMISTRY  OF  THE 

FARM,"  "  THE  NEW  AGRICULTURE;  "   EDITOR  OF 

"  BOSTON  JOURNAL  OF  CHEMISTRY." 


THIRD  EDITION  RE  VISED. 


BOSTON: 
A.  WILLIAMS  AND  COMPANY, 

£Uti  Cornet  33oohstorr. 
1883. 


Copyright, 

1883, 
BY  JAMES  R.  NICHOLS. 


ELECTROTYPED 

BY   C.   C.   MORSE   AND   SON 

HAVERHILL.   MASS. 


PREFACE. 


No  subjects  of  thought  so  earnestly  press 
upon  the  minds  of  intelligent  readers  and 
thinkers  at  the  present  time  as  those  which 
relate  to  the  genesis  of  man,  his  material 
and  spiritual  nature,  the  event  of  death, 
and  the  life  hereafter.  I  have  learned 
from  a  wide  association  with  active  busi- 
ness men,  as  well  as  with  scholars  and 
thinkers,  that  none  are  too  busy  or  too 
much  engaged  in  life's  affairs  to  fail  to  read 
and  converse  upon  these  topics.  It  is  due 
to  conversations  with  business  and  scien- 
tific friends  in  hours  of  leisure  that  this 
little  book  appears.  In  yielding  to  their 
solicitations  to  put  in  print  thoughts  often 
privately  expressed,  I  do  an  act  not  un- 
attended with  doubt  and  hesitation.  It 
contains  views  well  known  to  many,  who, 

v 


VI  PREFACE. 

as  guests  and  friends,  have  by  their  social 
and  intellectual  qualities  added  much  to 
the  pleasures  of  a  rural  home.  These 
essays  present  but  the  briefest  outlines  of 
great  themes ;  themes  which  have  engaged 
the  attention  of  cultivated  minds  in  all 
ages.  Whatever  may  be  new  in  them 
relates  to  the  independent  method  of  treat- 
ment of  the  topics,  and  to  some  opinions 
of  the  nature  of  spirit  and  the  conditions 
of  a  future  life. 

Facts  in  science  have  been  arranged  so 
as  to  present  whatever  testimony  it  is 
capable  of  affording ;  and  the  teachings  of 
the  founder  of  the  Christian  faith  have 
been  given  that  prominence  and  authority 
to  which  they  are  undeniably  entitled.  It 
must  be  admitted  that  science  has  its 
unwarrantable  assumptions  and  dogmas  as 
well  as  theology,  and  those  of  the  one 
should  be  as  cautiously  accepted  as  the 
other.  The  testimony  and  teachings  of 
science  upon  the  topics  considered  have 
been  plainly  presented,  and,  so  far  as  pos- 


PREFACE.  Vll 

sible,  without  its  formulas  and  technical- 
ities. As  it  is  now  well  understood,  even 
by  ordinary  minds,  that  theology  is  not 
religion,  and  that  creeds  are  the  work  of 
men,  but  little  weight  has  been  given  to 
either  in  this  discussion. 

In  a  former  age,  when  an  exacting  ec- 
clesiasticism  dominated  over  ignorant  and 
servile  populations,  men  were  swayed  by 
fear;  their  minds  were  filled  with  images, 
distorted  and  diabolical,  like  the  gargoyles 
which  looked  down  upon  them  from  the 
copings  of  the  old  cathedrals.  Now,  men 
think,  reason,  analyze  ;  and  views  are  held 
upon  religious  and  spiritual  matters  which 
are  formed  from  independent  study  of  the 
teachings  of  the  Divine  Master. 

It  is  probable  that  some  of  the  views 
presented,  particularly  in  the  four  last 
chapters,  will  not  be  in  harmony  with  those 
of  all  readers ;  but  there  is  good  reason  for 
believing  that  many  Christian  laymen  and 
ministers  will  in  private  thank  me  for 
bringing  to  view  the  indefensible  nature  of 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

the  doctrines  found  in  church  creeds ; 
doctrines  which  they  have  long  wished 
might  be  eliminated. 

Much  embarrassment  has  been  felt  in 
endeavoring  to  make  the  essays  concise 
and  still  preserve  continuity  and  complete- 
ness. They  are  indeed  but  outline  thoughts 
which  may  be  extended  at  a  future  time,  if 

it  should  appear  desirable. 

J.  R.  N. 

HAVERHILL,  MASS.,  November,  1882. 


-NOTE 

TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION. 


THIS  little  book,  privately  printed  by  the  author 
for  distribution  among  business,  professional,  and 
family  friends,  has  from  force  of  circumstances 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  a  publisher.  Almost  im- 
mediately upon  its  distribution,  a  demand  arose  for 
the  work  which  could  not  well  be  resisted,  and  a 
second  edition  was  published  which  speedily  found 
purchasers.  These  editions  were  printed  under 
unusual  disadvantages,  and  without  opportunity 
.for  revision  by  the  author;  consequently  they  con- 
tained many  typographical  errors  and  blemishes. 

The  third  edition  has  been  printed  from  new  and 
larger  type,  and  the  work  has  been  carefully  revised. 
Alterations  have  been  made  in  a  few  of  the  pages, 
which,  without  changing  the  sense,  add  to  the  clear- 
ness and  perspicuity  of  the  style;  also,  additions 
have  been  made  to  the  title-page. 

The  warm,  sincere  commendations  of  the  book 
which  have  come  from  a  large  number  of  scholars 
and  thinkers,  and  from  clergymen  of  all  denomina- 
tions, are  certainly  gratifying,  and  lead  to  a  willing- 
ness that  it  should  be  more  widely  known. 

The  fact  that  in  the  short  period  of  a  few  weeks 
two  editions  have  found  purchasers,  is  significant  of 
the  intense  interest  which  centres  around  the  topics 
which  are  discussed  in  the  work.  The  suggestion 
of  many  readers  that  several  of  the  subjects  should 
be  enlarged  in  their  scope  will  receive  consideration. 

FEBRUARY,  1883. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  THE  GENESIS  OF  MAN  ....  i 

II.  THE  MATERIAL  MAN     ....  24 

III.  THE  SPIRITUAL  MAN     ....  58 

IV.  WHAT  is  SPIRIT? 78 

V.   THE  RELIGIOUS  MAN     ....  105 

VI.  WHAT  OF  DEATH? 135 

VII.   AFTER  DEATH,  WHAT?.    ...  157 

VIII.  WHERE? 179 


THE   GENESIS   OF   MAN. 


HUMAN  beings  find  themselves  existing 
upon  a  small  planetary  body  whirling 
through  space,  but  whence  they  came  is  a 
baffling  mystery.  Save  in  the  Hebrew 
chronicles,  no  book,  however  ancient, 
affords  any  account  of  the  genesis  of  man 
worthy  of  consideration  ;  and  no  tracings 
on  rocks  or  metals,  no  inscriptions  or  pic- 
turings  in  any  part  of  the  world,  furnish 
a  clue  to  the  solution  of  the  dark  problem 
of  the  origin  of  the  race.  Those  strange 
visitors  from  the  celestial  spaces,  the  me- 
teorites, which  are  projected  glowing  with 
heat  upon  the  crust  of  the  earth,  can  give 
as  ready  answers  to  our  questionings  as 
the  most  learned  philosophers.  Like  our- 
selves, they  come  out  of  the  unknown,  and 
in  studying  their  history  we  experience 


THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN. 


emotions  akin  to  those  which  result  from 
the  study  of  the  history  of  our  own  origin. 
Leaving  the  matter  of  the  so-called 
Mosaic  account  of  the  origin  of  the  race 
for  consideration  at  a  point  further  on,  it 
remains  to  inquire  what  science  has  ac- 
complished in  its  researches  upon  the 
great  problem.  In  no  department  of  human 
inquiry  has  a  larger  amount  of  labor  been 
expended  or  more  exalted  talents  enlisted  ; 
and  the  outcome,  although  unsatisfactory, 
is  very  interesting.  It  cannot  reasonably 
be  questioned  that  man  has  been  a  resident 
upon  the  earth  for  a  long  period  of  time  ; 
a  range  of  centuries,  perhaps,  which  carries 
us  back  to  the  Palaeolithic  age.  The  evi- 
dence that  he  lived  in  Switzerland  in  the 
Neolithic  or  Stone  Age  is  quite  conclusive. 
The  clothes,  polished  stones,  and  house- 
hold objects  found  in  the  lake  dwellings 
show  that  he  was  considerably  advanced 
in  civilization  and  in  a  knowledge  of  the 
ruder  arts  in  that  epoch.  He  cultivated 
wheat  and  barley,  and  made  bread ;  and, 


THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN. 


what  is  very  remarkable,  he  evinced  a  taste 
for  the  flavoring  aromatics  by  putting  cara- 
way seeds  in  his  bread.  He  kept  domestic 
animals, — cows  and  pigs,  sheep  and  goats, 
—  and  lived,  probably,  somewhat  as  many 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland  live  to-day. 
Several  kinds  of  horses  existed  in  the  Neo- 
lithic period,  all  small  in  stature,  and  there 
were  two  breeds  of  oxen,  also  small.  The 
sheep  had  horns,  and  the  goats  carried  im- 
mense protuberances  of  this  nature  upon 
their  heads.  The  men  varied  from  four  to 
five  feet  in  height,  and  their  faces  were 
oval,  with  probably  not  unpleasant  expres- 
sions of  countenance.  They  were  rather 
weak  and  inoffensive,  not  specially  prone 
to  war,  but  living  under  circumstances 
which  afforded  the  highest  protection  from 
the  rapacity  of  neighbors.  These  interest- 
ing facts  are  learned  from  researches  made 
in  connection  with  the  lake  dwellings  of 
Switzerland,  and  as  they  are  sustained  by 
the  most  indubitable  testimony  must  be  ad- 
mitted as  facts.  But  as  has  been  intimated, 


THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN. 


it  is  highly  probable  that  the  genesis  of 
man  extends  to  an  age  still  more  remote. 
As  we  recede,  however,  into  the  darkness 
of  early  geologic  times  all  traces  of  him 
are  lost,  and  although  the  fossil  remains  of 
strange  reptiles  and  animals  are  plentiful, 
fossil  man  is  missing.  No  coal  seams,  or 
strata  of  ancient  sandstone,  reveal  in  hard- 
ened lines  his  noble,  upright  form. 

Nothing  whatever  is  known  of  the  time 
of  man's  advent.  We  may  speculate  and 
pile  hypothesis  upon  hypothesis,  but  we 
are  not  thereby  introduced  to  any  clearer 
light.  The  researches  of  archaeologists, 
ethnologists,  geologists,  biologists  have 
been  well-nigh  exhaustive,  and  unless  new 
discoveries  are  made  barriers  to  further 
knowledge  have  been  reached.  If  the 
advent  of  man  was  sudden,  and  he  came 
perfected  in  physical  form,  he  is  certainly 
not  contemporary  with  the  higher  forms 
of  other  animals ;  and  the  break  in  the 
chain  of  animal  life  which  connects  the 
earlier  with  the  later  geologic  periods,  in 


THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN.  5 

which  man  fails  to  appear,  is  not  confined 
to  the  space  covered  by  a  single  link.  He 
has  left  no  traces  of  his  presence  beyond  a 
period  which,  in  contrast  with  the  length 
of  geological  epochs,  is  indeed  recent.  If 
he  has  been  evolved  slowly  from  lower 
forms,  we  still  have  no  traces  of  him  in 
any  of  the  stages  of  partial  development. 
There  is,  however,  a  strong  and  significant 
array  of  analogies,  correspondences,  and 
facts  which  give  force  to  the  views  of  the 
evolutionists,  and  these  are  worthy  of  con- 
sideration. 

The  word  evolution  means  the  birth  or 
derivation  of  beings  from  others  through 
the  action  of  natural  laws  ;  its  whole  mean- 
ing is  not  that  man  is  evolved  directly  from 
an  anthropoid  ape,  but  that  in  nature  there 
is  a  law  by  the  action  of  which  the  lower 
forms  of  organic  life  and  inorganic  sub- 
stances are  slowly  changed,  until  through 
endless  modifications  the  highest  types  re- 
sult. This  law  of  evolution  reaches  and 
controls  every  department  of  nature,  and 


THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN. 


to  its  dominating  influence  we  are  in- 
debted for  moral  and  intellectual  as  well 
as  for  physical  qualities.  It  is  evident  that 
there  is  in  nature  a  constantly  recurring 
relationship  among  all  creatures,  and  that 
in  heredity  we  have  absolute  proof  of  the 
fact  that  like  tends  to  produce  like  under 
all  circumstances.  It  is  due  to  two  causes 
that  variations  occur :  one  is  the  law  of 
heredity ;  the  other,  the  surrounding  in- 
fluences, or  the  sum  of  the  physical  influ- 
ences upon  the  organism.  The  first  tends 
to  preserve  uniformity;  the  second  modi- 
fies the  action  of  the  first.  Very  much 
importance  is  attached  to  what  is  regarded 
as  a  newly-discovered  or  recognized  law, 
—  that  of  natural  selection.  This  law  as- 
serts that  some  individuals  are  stronger 
or  better  fitted  to  compete  in  the  struggle 
of  life  than  are  others  of  the  same  species : 
hence  they  will  live  and  perpetuate  their 
kind,  while  others  die  out.  No  one  has 
successfully  combated  this  plain,  palpable 
provision  of  nature,  or  can  deny  its  great  in- 


THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN. 


fluence  in  elevating  animal  existence  upon 
our  planet. 

If  the  doctrines  of  evolution  and  natural 
selection  be  accepted,  we  still  wander  in 
darkness  as  regards  the  origin  of  life.  If 
these  doctrines  are  based  upon  funda- 
mental laws,  it  is  clear  that  a  law  has 
not  yet  been  found  which  accounts  for 
the  beginning  of  organic  life,  or  which  ex- 
plains how  dead  matter  became  endowed 
with  vital  activities.  No  law  has  been 
found  which  accounts  for  the  origin  of 
the  variation  in  species.  When  we  at- 
tempt to  span  the  enormous  epochs  of 
time  which  it  is  conceded  must  elapse  in 
bringing  man  up  from  the  lowest  organic 
forms  to  his  present  exalted  condition,  a 
sense  of  dissatisfaction  is  experienced,  not 
only  because  of  the  difficulties  which  beset 
the  way,  but  because  in  all  our  anxious 
gropings  we  cannot  find  the  starting-point. 
One  end  of  the  chain  we  see,  but  the  other 
end  is  hidden  in  thick  darkness.  If  we 
only  knew  how  ascidian  or  still  lower  forms 


8  THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN. 

were  evolved  from  dead  rocks,  there  would 
be  some  light  thrown  upon  the  foggy  end 
of  the  chain.  Life  can  only  evolve  life ; 
a  rock  cannot  evolve  an  egg,  or  supply 
warmth  to  hatch  it  when  evolved  from  life 
sources.  It  is  possible  for  man  to  bring 
together  in  accurate  measure  the  chemical 
constituents  of  an  egg,  but  by  no  possi- 
bility can  he  supply  the  mysterious  vital 
principle,  or  bring  life  out  of  his  mixture, 
although  he  may  comply  most  carefully 
with  all  the  known  conditions  under  which 
life  is  supposed  to  be  produced.  In  no 
way  is  it  possible  for  one  to  escape  from 
the  conviction  that  the  chasm  which  sep- 
arates the  organic  from  the  inorganic,  life 
from  death,  is  a  broad  one,  and  no  re- 
search has  penetrated  or  crossed  the  ray- 
less  gulf.  Compared  with  the  difficulties 
in  assuming  that  life  is  spontaneous,  a 
natural  result  of  the  continuity-  and  co- 
operation of  natural  energies,  the  evolution 
of  man  from  primal  forms  is  easy  of  be- 
lief. The  views  so  clearly  presented  to 


THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN. 


the  world  by  the  late  Mr.  Darwin  are  not 
to  be  controverted  by  ignorant  prejudice, 
or  demolished  by  exhibitions  of  passion  or 
conceit.  He  was  unquestionably  one  of 
the  most  learned  and  remarkable  men  who 
have  lived  in  any  age  of  the  world.  His 
views  are  not  accepted  by  all  naturalists, 
and  if  they  were  it  would  not  remove  them 
from  the  field  of  hypothesis  to  that  of  fact. 
The  impatience  of  many,  when  his  views 
of  the  origin  of  man  are  advocated,  savors 
more  of  the  dogmatism  of  interested  be- 
lief than  of  the  judicial  earnestness  and 
fairness  which  result  from  careful  and 
competent  investigation.  The  Darwinian 
hypothesis  is  so  very  easy  of  application, 
and  so  in  accord  with  the  wishes  of  many 
investigators  in  science,  that  it  is  too 
readily  adopted,  often  without  the  prelim- 
inary caution  of  rigid  analysis  of  the  facts. 
The  great  mind  of  Darwin,  while  these 
pages  were  in  preparation,  was  freed  from 
its  material  environment,  and  passed  under 
the  new  conditions  of  existence  which 


IO  THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN. 

await  all  other  minds.  His  mental  nature, 
subjected  to  the  highest  culture  and  the 
most  exacting  discipline,  enabled  him  to 
see  clearly  many  of  the  intricacies  and 
laws  of  the  universe  which  are  hidden  to 
others.  It  is  probable  that  the  entangle- 
ment of  gross  matter  with  the  spiritual 
man  was  far  less  obstructing  and  obscuring 
in  his  case  than  in  that  of  most  others,  for 
greatness  to  a  large  extent  consists  in  the 
facility  with  which  thought  rises  indepen- 
dent of  its  low  environment,  and  frees  it- 
self from  its  control.  Under  the  new  con- 
ditions of  life  to  which  he  has  passed  it  is 
more  than  probable  that  the  baffling  prob- 
lems which  occupied  his  mind  here  are 
now  very  clearly  comprehended.  He  has 
not  gone  outside  of  the  great  universe,  for 
no  outside  is  possible ;  he  has  not  been  re- 
leased into  a  realm  of  endless  night,  for 
light  and  life  are  everywhere  ;  he  was  not 
buried  forever  with  the  separating  atoms 
and  molecules  of  the  body,  for  mind,  like 
matter  and  energy,  is  imperishable. 


THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN.  II 

After  a  careful  study  of  the  views  of 
evolutionists,  and  a  full  recognition  of  the 
force  of  the  ingenious  and  wonderful  array 
of  facts  and  theories,  we  are  forced  to 
come  back  to  the  more  reasonable  ground, 
that  man  has  two  natures,  clearly  defined, 
and  both  tending  towards  distinct  ends,  — 
one  perishable,  the  other  imperishable. 
There  are  not  insuperable  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  understanding  how  man  might  be 
evolved  physically  from  lower  forms,  but 
no  stretch  of  the  powers  of  comprehension 
enables  one  to  conceive  of  the  evolution  of 
mind  from  primitive  forms,  and  there  is  no 
chain  of  facts  which  lend  reasonable  color- 
ing to  such  a  belief. 

Mind  has  come  up  apparently  from  a 
very  low  condition,  —  how  low  we  do  not 
know ;  but  this  is  certain :  the  mind  of 
man,  so  far  as  any  traces  of  its  action  are 
discernible,  has  always  exhibited  enormous 
superiority  over  that  of  the  highest  of  the 
animal  races.  There  is,  in  fact,  so  far  as 
our  powers  of  analysis  guide  us,  no  close 


12  THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN. 

analogy  existing  between  the  mind  of  man 
and  the  instinct  of  animals ;  their  mental 
capacities  are  limited  ;  man's,  in  finite 
matters,  has  no  limit.  The  mind  of  man 
is  the  great  overpowering  force  in  the 
world,  a  principle  dominating  everything. 
No  form  of  energy  acting  under  law  has 
escaped  its  control,  no  physical  forces  have 
become  its  master  ;  they  all  combined  bow 
to  its  behests,  and  become  its  servants. 
It  must  be  a  supernatural  principle,  a  dis- 
tinct creation,  a  divine  essence,  a  mighty 
force,  standing  apart,  and  designed  to  stand 
apart,  from  all  the  other  forces  of  nature. 
Mind  in  its  almost  supreme  control  over 
matter  meets  with  barriers  when  it  essays 
to  perform  creative  acts.  It  has  succeeded 
in  evolving  out  of  passive  forms  of  matter 
energies  which  are  destructive  and  appall- 
ing ;  it  has  changed  the  gentle  warmth  of 
our  firesides  into  forms  of  electrical  force, 
capable  of  moving  ponderous  machinery, 
and  it  has  given  it  wings  and  endowed  it 
with  mute  intelligence,  so  that  it  conveys 


THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN.  13 

messages  of  instruction,  congratulation, 
warning,  joy,  and  love  with  a  rapidity  which 
practically  annihilates  time  and  space. 
Out  of  the  common  sand  of  the  sea-shore 
it  has  constructed  prisms  and  lenses  as 
clear  and  beautiful  as  nature's  proudest 
gems,  and  so  arranged  them  in  tubes  of 
metal  that  the  heavenly  bodies  are  brought 
as  it  were  into  the  laboratory  for  analysis, 
and  the  minutest  forms  of  life  hidden  in 
the  earth  and  air  are  revealed  to  the  eye 
with  the  utmost  distinctness.  It  has  sepa- 
rated water  and  solids  into  gaseous  con- 
ditions, and  mingled  them  with  the  winds ; 
has  isolated  and  recombined  rays  of  light 
so  as  to  form  the  most  gorgeous  pictures  ; 
has  forced  the  sun  to  serve  as  artist,  and 
paint  portraits  and  landscapes  ;  has  extract- 
ed from  the  filthy  residuum  of  the  gas 
manufacturer  colors  more  beautiful  than 
those  of  the  rainbow ;  has  synthetically 
combined  molecules  of  inert  matter  so  as 
to  represent  organic  products  of  the  high- 
est complexity.  All  this  and  much  more 


14  THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN. 

has  mind  accomplished,  but  it  has  never 
been  able  to  create  a  new  element  or  add 
a  single  atom  of  matter  to  the  primitive 
mass  of  earth  and  air. 

Whenever  man  has  experimented  with 
the  view  of  so  arranging  matter  as  to 
evolve  from  it  life,  signal  failure  has  at- 
tended his  labors.  The  belief  which  at  one 
time  prevailed,  that  from  liquids  and  sterile 
infusions,  placed  under  favoring  conditions, 
life  is  spontaneously  produced,  has  now 
few  supporters  among  men  of  research. 
Dr.  Bastian,  who  experimented  over  a 
period  of  many  years,  and  who  persistently 
maintained  that  from  his  infusions  bacteria 
and  other  forms  of  life  were  spontaneously 
produced,  has  been  confronted  with  the 
careful  and  protracted  researches  of  Tyn- 
dall  and  Pasteur,  and  his  alleged  successful 
results  have  been  disproved.  Tyndall,  to 
escape  from  the  germ-charged  air  of  cities 
and  populous  districts,  fled  to  Switzerland, 
and  on  the  highest  mountain  peaks  con- 
ducted his  experiments.  The  results  con- 


THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN.  1 5 

clusively  proved  that  the  development  of 
life  in  Bastian's  infusions  came  from  germ- 
inal nuclei  in  the  atmosphere,  as  absolutely 
sterile  liquids  exposed  to  the  pure  air  of 
high  altitudes  remained  sterile  under  the 
most  favoring  conditions.  Pasteur  con- 
firmed Tyndall's  results  by  a  long  series 
of  careful  and  trustworthy  experiments. 
Man  is  thus  shown  to  possess  wonderful 
capabilities  in  controlling  and  changing 
matter,  but  the  power  of  creating  is  a  pre- 
rogative withheld  from  him.  His  agency 
in  reproduction  is  no  more  direct  or  exalted 
than  that  of  the  lowest  animals  and  reptiles. 
The  reproductive  instinct  is  given  not  only 
to  all  living  forms  of  animals  and  insects, 
but  to  plants  as  well.  Its  exercise  requires 
no  training  of  the  intellect,  no  elevation  of 
the  moral  faculties ;  savage  man  was  as 
capable  of  covering  the  earth  with  a  race 
of  men,  ignorant  and  debased,  as  is  the 
most  civilized  and  cultivated  people  with 
one  elevated  to  a  higher  plane.  Modify  or 
remove  the  overmastering  reproductive 


1 6  THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN. 

instinct  in  animal  and  vegetable  organisms, 
and  all  forms  of  life  would  at  once  cease. 
It  is  the  strong  chain  which  binds  the  ani- 
mate to  the  inanimate,  —  a  chain  whose 
links  are  of  steel,  which  no  power  short  of 
that  of  the  Infinite  One  can  break. 

The  embryotic  changes  resulting  in  the 
development  of  man,  research  has  shown 
to  be  in  no  regard  dissimilar  to  those  which 
result  in  introducing  into  the  breathing 
world  the  lower  types  of  mammals.  He  is 
born  helpless  and  absolutely  dependent 
upon  those  through  whose  natural  agency 
the  spark  of  life  was  engendered  ;  and  like 
all  animals  is  indebted  for  his  preservation 
to  the  overpowering  maternal  instinct  be- 
stowed through  a  wise  controlling  power 
higher  than  that  of  man.  Every  stage  of 
man's  progress  towards  full  development 
from  the  microscopical  cells  of  the  latent 
germ  is  marked  by  a  superintending  agency 
which  must  be  divine.  It  cannot  be  denied 
that  it  is  all  accomplished  under  law,  but 
the  laws  themselves  are  miracles  of  wisdom 
—  a  wisdom  not  born  of  earth. 


THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN.  I/ 

Science  does  not  concern  itself  with  the 
statements  regarding  the  genesis  of  man, 
as  found  in  the  sacred  books  of  ancient 
tribes  and  nations,  only  so  far  as  to  subject 
them  to  the  most  rigid  rules  of  histori- 
cal, archaeological,  and  biological  criticism, 
with  the  view  of  ascertaining  what  plaus- 
ible grounds  they  have  to  rest  upon.  The 
ancient  Hebrews  have  preserved  records  in 
which  is  found  a  circumstantial  account  or 
history  of  man's  advent,  and  the  world  has 
for  nearly  twenty  centuries  been  largely 
influenced  by  a  belief  in  this  remarkable 
narrative.  Whether  it  be  regarded  as  a 
legend  of  very  early  times,  a  story  charac- 
teristic of  the  East,  or  as  a  supernatural 
revelation  of  man's  genesis,  the  student  or 
investigator  cannot  but  view  it  as  extraor- 
dinary. If  we  are  required  to  accept  it 
after  ecclesiastic  or  scholastic  interpreta- 
tions, which  place  the  occurrences  about 
six  thousand  years  ago,  and  which  insist 
upon  a  literal  rendering  of  the  text,  the 
way  is  beset  with  difficulties.  If,  on  the 


1 8  THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN. 

other  hand,  the  narrative  be  regarded  as  a 
dim  shadowing  forth  of  the  outlines  of  a 
creative  act,  instituted  by  divine  interfer- 
ence in  some  early  epoch  of  the  world's 
history,  it  at  once  commands  the  respect 
of  those  who  recognize  the  existence  of  a 
Supreme  Creator  in  the  universe. 

There  is  in  the  narrative  certain  internal 
evidence,  which,  independent  of  all  other 
considerations,  lends  to  it  a  startling  sig- 
nificancy.  The  prominent  incidents  of  the 
transaction  so  briefly  presented  are  wonder- 
fully in  accordance  with  possibilities,  or, 
there  is  evidence  of  a  wise  adaptation  of 
means  to  ends.  We  are  told  without  any 
show  of  hesitancy  that  man  was  made  out 
of  the  "  dust  of  the  earth ; "  that  is,  he 
came  from  the  same  general  mother  or 
source  as  all  organic  life.  If  the  statement 
were  that  he  was  formed  out  of  the  rocks 
or  out  of  the  trees  of  the  garden,  it  would 
be  far  less  significant  of  his  true  chemical 
constitution  as  made  known  through 
modern  research.  Rocks  and  trees  are  not 


THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN.  1 9 

so  constituted  as  to  meet  fully  the  neces- 
sities of  his  material  organization,  and  the 
same  may  be  said  of  quite  all  the  sub- 
stances or  prominent  objects  which  were 
open  to  observation  in  early  times.  In  the 
"  dust  of  the  earth  "  we  have  an  expression 
which  may  fairly  be  interpreted  to  mean  the 
soil  of  the  earth,  which  includes  both  the 
organic  and  inorganic  constituents  found 
in  the  physical  organization  of  man.  In 
this  material  we  have  the  lime,  potash, 
soda,  magnesia,  iron,  phosphorus,  indeed 
quite  all  the  chemical  bodies  essential  to 
man's  organism.  In  the  humus  of  the  soil 
we  have  the  materials  needed  for  the  for- 
mation of  living  tissues,  the  carbon,  hydro- 
gen, and  nitrogen.  The  source  from  which 
man  is  stated  to  have  been  derived  is  seen 
to  have  been  fully  capable  of  supplying 
every  needed  element  without  the  inter- 
position of  a  miracle  to  summon  the  rarer 
molecules  from  afar.  A  hnman  narrator 
of  such  a  stupendous  transaction  would 
hardly  have  allowed  his  excited  imagination 


2O  THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN. 

to  go  no  further  than  common  dust  for  his 
man-material ;  he  would  have  selected  the 
clear  air  about  him,  the  chemical  nature  of 
which  was  to  him  a  mystery,  or  he  would 
have  interwoven  the  rainbow  or  the  gor- 
geous hues  of  the  setting  sun  into  the  noble 
form  of  man. 

After  the  completion  of  the  physical 
structure,  a  still  more  important  act  re- 
mained to  be  accomplished,  —  the  endow- 
ment of  life.  The  narrator  proceeds  to 
say  that  "God  breathed"  into  the  figure 
of  man  "the  breath  of  life."  This  lan- 
guage and  statement  is  even  more  remark- 
able than  that  relating  to  the  formation 
of  the  body.  From  what  we  know  of  the 
mind  or  soul  of  man,  we  cannot  give  it  a 
lower  place  than  is  assigned  in  the  nar- 
rative ;  it  must  be  the  "breath,"  or  an 
emanation  from  the  Creator ;  it  must  be 
the  closest,  most  distinctive  representation 
of  the  Supreme  Intelligence  of  all  prin- 
ciples in  the  universe.  It  is  infinitely 
higher  than  matter  ;  it  is  a  part  of  a 
Divine  originator. 


THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN.  21 

If  this  were  only  an  Eastern  tale,  told 
by  an  ancient  story-teller,  he  would  have 
given  life  to  his  figure  by  agencies  far 
different ;  the  statement  would  be  much 
too  tame  to  meet  his  own  inclination  or 
the  wishes  of  his  listeners.  He  probably 
would  have  conferred  life  by  placing  the 
inanimate  form  in  a  running  brook,  in  a 
position  so  that  the  clear  morning  light 
might  afford  supplementary  aid  in  wooing 
the  mysterious  principle  sought.  He  might 
have  covered  it  with  flowers,  and  pressed 
into  the  open  mouth  the  rarest  juices  of 
plants,  and  fanned  the  nostrils  with  air 
charged  with  the  rich  aroma  of  flowers. 
Whoever  wrote  the  first  chapters  of  the 
book  of  Genesis,  it  is  certain  he  was  no 
ordinary  chronicler ;  he  was  destitute  of 
the  gorgeous  imagination  so  common  to 
the  authors  of  the  legends  and  tales  of 
the  East,  and  was  clairvoyant  in  a  high 
degree.  He  must  have  had  whisperings 
from  unseen  sources,  and  been  directed 
by  a  wisdom  not  common  to  the  men  of 
the  times  in  which  he  lived. 


22  THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN. 

The  story  of  the  genesis  of  woman  is 
held  to  be  even  more  fanciful  than  that 
of  man,  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  detect  in 
it  those  points  of  difference  which  sep- 
arate the  tale  from  the  wild  imaginings 
of  the  wisest  of  the  early  Hebrew  chron- 
iclers. The  relations  of  the  sexes  are,  by 
the  proceeding  of  forming  the  woman  out 
of  man,  declared  to  be  more  direct  and 
intimate  than  that  of  any  other ;  and 
whatever  was  desirable  and  wonderful  in 
man,  woman  must  by  her  origin  be  pos- 
sessed of.  The  narrator  did  not  regard 
it  as  necessary  to  go  again  back  to  the 
earth  for  materials  from  which  to  form 
the  woman,  nor  was  it  necessary  for  Jeho- 
vah to  inflate  the  lungs  by  his  breath  ; 
like  is  assumed  to  be  competent  to  pro- 
duce like,  and  from  the  physical  man 
woman  was  formed. 

What  is  called  the  Mosaic  account  of 
the  genesis  of  man,  taken  as  a  whole, 
must  be  regarded  even  by  evolutionists 
as  remarkable.  Whether  it  is  designed 


THE    GENESIS    OF    MAN.  23 

to  present  the  details  of  actual  occur- 
rences, or  whether  the  story  has  a  typical 
significancy,  a  figurative  meaning,  is  not 
clear.  If  its  whole  scope  and  intent  is  to 
reveal  to  races  of  men  in  all  ages  the  fact 
of  the  supernatural  origin  of  man,  con- 
sidering the  circumstances  under  which 
the  narrative  was  presented,  and  its  influ- 
ence upon  those  who  were  to  people  the 
earth  thousands  of  years  after  the  ignorant 
Hebrews  had  been  resolved  back  to  dust, 
it  is  not  easy  to  see  what  statement  could 
better  serve  its  purpose.  It  has  no  force, 
viewed  as  a  strictly  scientific  problem,  and 
finds  no  place  in  purely  scientific  liter- 
ature, but  it  does  command  the  respect 
and  enlist  the  interest  of  some  of  the 
most  competent  scientific  investigators  of 
the  age. 


THE   MATERIAL  MAN. 


SCIENCE  must  be  regarded  as  a  dumb 
oracle  when  consulted  with  regard  to  the 
genesis  of  man.  Positive  knowledge  be- 
gins with  the  study  of  the  embryo,  a  prin- 
ciple brought  into  existence  along  with  him 
at  the  time  of  his  advent.  The  first  sur- 
prise which  startles  the  investigator  is  the 
extreme  minuteness  of  the  physical  point 
from  which  man  commences.  There  is 
here  apparently  a  marvellous  exhibition  of 
inadequacy  of  means  to  ends.  That  man, 
proud  of  his  physical  stature,  and  of  his 
superiority  over  the  animal  kingdom  and 
the  forces  of  nature,  should  start  from  ova 
infinitely  smaller  than  that  of  the  smallest 
bird,  is  a  consideration  well  calculated  to 
arrest  the  attention.  The  human  ovum  is 
24 


THE    MATERIAL    MAN.  25 

so  small  that  it  is  covered  by  the  point  of 
a  common  pin,  and  the  microscope  must  be 
taken  in  hand  for  its  study.  The  calca- 
reous shell  of  the  egg  of  a  humming-bird 
has  sufficient  capacity  to  hold  enough  of 
the  human  life  germs  to  people  a  city,  and 
the  shell  of  the  egg  of  the  ostrich  to  cover 
a  continent  with  inhabitants.  It  is  well  to 
remember  in  considering  the  minuteness 
of  man's  material  beginning,  that  the  egg 
itself  is  not  the  germ,  the  point  where  life 
begins,  but  the  vessel  which  holds  it.  The 
study  of  the  germ  brings  us  face  to  face 
with  molecules  of  matter  held  in  a  single 
cell,  so  minute  that  the  highest  powers  of 
the  microscope  are  scarcely  adequate  to  re- 
veal it. 

The  germinal  principle  of  the  egg  is  only 
gross  matter,  oxygen,  nitrogen,  hydrogen, 
etc.,  and  left  to  itself,  is  as  inert  as  molecules 
of  silex  or  calcium.  It  requires  the  juxta- 
position of  two  forces  to  bring  to  view  the 
miracle  of  life.  A  female  barnyard  fowl, 
living  apart  from  those  of  the  opposite  sex, 


26  THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 

will  fill  her  nest  with  eggs,  but  the  maternal 
warmth,  however  zealously  conferred,  does 
not  result  in  filling  the  barnyard  with 
chicks.  The  eggs  of  the  maiden  fowl  re- 
ceive the  warmth,  but  unprotected  by  the 
life  principle,  it  only  hastens  chemical  de- 
composition, with  the  evolution  of  disgust- 
ing gaseous  compounds.  There  is  inherent 
in  man  the  almost  divine  power  of  confer- 
ring upon  a  few  molecules  of  matter  so 
small  as  to  be  entirely  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  unaided  eye  his  own  living  identity. 
Upon  a  point  infinitesimally  small  the 
physical  characteristics  and  mental  peculi- 
arities of  two  distinct  families  are  indelibly 
stamped,  and  this  touches  so  closely  upon 
the  border  land  of  miracle  that  we  are 
scarce  able  to  discern  any  intervening 
space. 

Heredity  is  so  wonderful  in  all  its  aspects, 
and  extends  to  such  minute  points,  that  we 
are  indeed  bewildered  by  its  study.  A  dis- 
tinguished scientific  friend,  in  conversation 
upon  this  subject,  called  my  attention  to 


THE    MATERIAL    MAN.  2/ 

the  raised  lines  and  grooves  upon  his 
thumb-nail,  and  stated  that  the  same  lines 
and  grooves  were  distinguishing  marks 
upon  the  right  thumb-nail  of  his  father, 
grandfather,  and  great  grandfather,  and 
probably  progenitors  still  more  remote. 
They  could  not  be  effaced,  for  when  re- 
moved by  the  use  of  a  file,  the  succeeding 
growth  presented  the  characteristic  marks 
in  strict  conformity  to  the  hereditary  im- 
press. Corresponding  minuteness  is  ob- 
servable in  the  mental  impress,  and  through- 
out life  we  are  constantly  startled  by  modes 
of  thought,  methods  of  expression,  capaci- 
ties and  incapacities,  which  closely  re- 
semble those  belonging  to  parents  and 
grandparents. 

A  child  with  its  lungs  inflated  with  air 
is  regarded  as  a  new  being,  although  life 
began  before  it  was  brought  in  contact 
with  the  external  world.  By  a  new  being 
is  meant  a  new  human  machine,  which 
would  never  have  existed  had  not  two  adult 
individuals  set  in  motion  a  train  of  vital 


28  THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 

activities,  under  the  guidance  and  control 
of  nature's  laws.  The  new  being  is  perhaps 
the  most  perfect  example  of  helplessness 
that  can  be  conceived  of,  and  its  first  de- 
mand is  for  food,  which  it  has  no  power  of 
obtaining.  The  atmosphere  does  its  part 
of  necessary  work  in  supplying  oxygen, 
and  respiration  goes  on  spontaneously,  and 
the  maternal  instinct,  upheld  and  supported 
by  love,  supplies  the  needed  nutrition. 
Thus  commences  the  physical  career  of 
man,  and  henceforward  the  whole  work  of 
material  life  consists  in  supplying  the  proper 
forms  of  organic  matter  to  promote  growth 
and  repair  waste.  The  little  mass  of 
organized  matter  which  has  newly  come 
into  the  world  grows  as  an  animal  or  tree 
grows,  by  the  multiplication  of  cells,  and 
the  cells  are  formed  by  the  material  placed 
in  the  organs  of  digestion  and  assimilation 
by  the  mother.  It  is  necessary  that  the 
elements  of  nutrition  should  be  held  in 
suspension  in  much  water  in  order  that 
they  may  be  digested  by  the  feeble  stomach 


THE    MATERIAL    MAN.  29 

of  the  child,  and  hence  a  distinct  class  of 
organs  are  supplied  in  the  female  by  which 
this  food  is  manufactured.  The  lacteal 
secretion  consists  of  common  water  about 
eighty-six  parts,  and  the  fourteen  parts  of 
solids  consist  of  every  material  in  right  pro- 
portion to  form  the  structure  of  a  perfect 
physical  man. 

The  child,  until  the  teeth  are  formed  and 
the  work  of  mastication  commences,  is 
built  up  wholly  from  the  food  supplied  to 
the  mother,  but  if  through  some  defect  of 
organization  the  maternal  food  is  not  fur- 
nished, the  cow,  goat,  and  other  animals 
can  supply  the  want  Thus,  when  resort 
is  had  to  the  lacteal  secretion  of  the  cow, 
it  is  the  food  of  the  animal  which  builds  up 
the  body  of  the  child ;  the  hay  and  grain 
of  the  cow  is  transformed  over  into  human 
flesh,  and  every  molecule  of  the  body  of 
the  "  precious  baby,"  has  passed  through 
the  animal  organism  from  hay  and  grain 
fields. 

These  considerations  bring  to  view  the 


3O  THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 

close  relationship  we  sustain  secondarily  to 
animal  life  and  primarily  to  the  vegetable 
world.  In  the  chemical  constitution  of 
tissue,  nerve,  and  bone,  there  is  perfect 
uniformity  in  men  and  animals  ;  and  in  the 
changes  which  result  in  metamorphosis  of 
structures  no  dissimilarity  in  results  can  by 
any  possibility  be  determined.  If  we  could 
but  find  a  single  element  in  the  physical 
structure  of  man  not  found  in  the  organism 
of  domestic  animals,  it  might  be  regarded 
as  significant  of  a  higher  or  more  complex 
organization,  but  this  we  fail  to  find.  Man 
in  his  fleshly  nature  is  indissolubly  linked 
with  the  lower  forms  of  creation ;  even  the 
crimson  current  of  life  which  warms  and 
sustains  the  one  is  almost  identical  in  its 
chemical  and  physical  nature  with  that 
which  performs  the  same  office  for  the 
other.  The  mammals  as  a  family,  or  a 
great  division  of  animated  nature,  have 
peculiar  characteristics,  not  only  in  material 
constitution,  but  in  organic  and  functional 
development,  which  link  them  together  as 


THE    MATERIAL    MAN.  3! 

a  whole,  with  man  as  the  highest  in  the 
group. 

In  studying  the  material  man  we  are  in- 
terested to  discover  if  possible  the  hiding 
place  of  that  other  principle,  without  which 
material  man  could  not  exist.  In  vain  we 
search  through  the  organism  open  to  the 
sense  of  sight,  but  the  mind  does  not  stamp 
impressions  upon  any  organ  which  are  dis- 
tinguishable to  any  human  sense.  We  can 
trace  nerve  action  and  distinguish  mind 
movements  as  a  form  of  energy  peculiar  in 
all  its  aspects  ;  but  as  we  search  for  its 
origin  or  source  it  becomes  like  the  spot 
where  the  rainbow  touches  the  ground,  it 
recedes  as  we  advance,  and  a  weary  chase 
leaves  us  no  nearer  the  object  than  when 
we  commenced  its  pursuit. 

The  brain  is  usually  considered  the  seat 
of  the  mind,  the  throne  from  which  its 
commands  go  forth,  and  where  the  court 
of  conscience  holds  its  stormy  sessions  ; 
but  is  satisfactory  evidence  afforded  from 
the  study  of  the  physics  of  the  brain  that 


32  THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 

such  is  the  fact  ?  There  are  certain  sig- 
nificant indications  that  the  brain  is  the 
seat  of  what  is  known  as  nerve  force,  and 
that  it  is  the  "  central  office,"  so  to  speak, 
towards  which  the  telephonic  system  of 
nerve  conductors  all  converge,  but  neither 
brain  or  nerve  tissue  constitute  any  part  of 
the  spiritual  man. 

The  human  brain  in  texture,  color,  and 
chemical  constitution  does  not  essentially 
differ  from  that  of  the  dog  or  horse ;  but 
in  amount  or  mass  it  fails  to  correspond, 
as  in  man  the  weight  of  the  brain  greatly 
exceeds  that  of  animals,  the  comparative 
weight  of  the  body  being  considered.  The 
near  proximity  of  the  central  organs  of 
sense  to  the  brain  meets  no  necessities  so 
far  as  affording  rapidity  of  communication 
is  involved,  for  nerve  action  or  transmission 
is  instantaneous.  The  prick  of  a  pin  upon 
the  extreme  end  of  a  toe  six  feet  more  or  less 
from  the  brain  is  felt  simultaneously  with  a 
like  injury  to  the  lip  or  ear.  There  is  no 
appreciable  time  consumed  in  transmitting 


THE    MATERIAL    MAN.  33 

sensations  from  one  part  of  the  body  to 
another.  The  life  principle  is  everywhere, 
and  injury  to  the  grouped  molecules  of 
matter  wherever  the  blood  circulates  is 
injury  to  the  spiritual  man,  who  dominates 
over  matter.  Man's  connection  with  the 
external  world,  independent  of  his  own 
organism,  strikingly  corresponds  with  the 
possibilities  of  the  human  body.  He  is 
at  present  practically  everywhere ;  as  a 
citizen  of  one  city  or  municipality,  he  has 
but  little  closer  communication  with  his 
neighbors,  or  even  the  members  of  his  own 
household,  than  with  those  living  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  globe.  In  crowding 
the  air  with  his  electrodes  so  that  great 
cities  have  the  appearance  of  being  enclosed 
in  a  huge  spider's  web,  he  only  imitates 
the  structural  parts  and  functions  of  his 
own  body.  The  relations  he  sustains  to 
this  marvellous  work  of  his  hands,  corre- 
spond with  the  relations  of  the  spiritual 
man  to  the  mechanism  of  the  human 
organization.  The  physical  man  stands 


34  THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 

behind,  and  controls  the  electrical  path- 
ways and  messengers  of  thought ;  so  the 
spiritual  man  fulfils  the  same  office  in  con- 
trolling the  nerve  forces,  which  have  special 
duties  to  perform,  to  bring  the  body  into 
communication  with  others  of  the  race, 
and  with  external  nature  as  a  whole. 

At  one  time  thirty  years  ago  there  was  a 
belief,  more  distinctly  a  popular  one,  that 
different  parts  of  the  brain  or  cerebral 
hemisphere  are  the  organs  of  the  different 
mental  faculties,  and  that  external  pro- 
tuberances on  the  skull  indicate  the  position 
of  the  different  faculties.  This  was  the 
doctrine  introduced  by  Dr.  Gall,  and  under 
the  name  of  phrenology  became  very 
popular.  A  class  of  peripatetic  lecturers, 
distinguished  for  lack  of  learning,  swarmed 
over  the  United  States  and  Europe,  pre- 
senting the  doctrines  to  wondering  and 
believing  audiences,  and  illustrating  its 
practical  benefits  by  manipulating  the  skull 
and  delineating  character  and  proclivities 
in  a  very  positive  way.  So  general  was 


THE    MATERIAL    MAN.  35 

the  belief  in  the  notion  that  almost  every 
one  carried  in  his  pocket  a  highly  orna- 
mented skull  chart  on  which  could  be  read 
his  own  character  and  capabilities,  usually 
highly  flattering.  A  boy  starting  out  to 
seek  his  fortune  would  no  more  have 
thought  at  that  time  of  leaving  without  his 
skull  chart  than  a  shipmaster  would  think 
of  leaving  port  without  his  compass  or 
sextant.  But  this  fallacy  lost  its  hold  as 
soon  as  the  vivisectionists  pointed  out  that 
an  animal  will  bear  to  have  its  cerebral 
hemisphere  gradually  sliced  away  ;  and  the 
-slicing  may  be  done  in  any  direction  with 
the  same  result,  namely :  gradually  increas- 
ing stupidity,  but  with  no  change  of  charac- 
ter according  as  one  or  other  phrenological 
organ  is  removed.  Persons  have  recovered 
from  wounds  from  which  portions  of  the 
brain  have  protruded  and  been  amputated ; 
but  it  makes  no  difference  what  part  of  the 
hemisphere  is  injured,  no  alteration  results 
in  the  mental  constitution  of  the  patient. 
Beside,  the  hemispheres  are  not  divided 


36  THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 

into  organs ;  but,  supposing  such  organs 
existed,  it  would  be  quite  impossible  to 
tell  their  size  by  the  phrenological  method. 
Extended  experiments  have  been  made 
in  freezing  the  brain  of  living  animals,  and 
it  has  been  shown  that  when  by  the  use  of 
freezing  mixtures  the  living  brain  is  frozen 
solid,  the  animal  is  not  destroyed.  Its 
powers  may  be  retained  in  an  ice-bound 
condition  for  hours,  with  every  faculty 
practically  dead ;  and  yet,  set  free  from 
cold,  they  are  revived  and  all  come  back 
again  as  healthful  as  ever.  This  is  a  mar- 
vellous revealing,  and  seems  to  show  that 
the  mind  is  not  wholly  resident  in  the  brain. 
The  freezing  of  the  body  as  a  whole,  results 
in  the  prompt  separation  of  mind  and  mat- 
ter, and  if  the  whole  of  mind  was  resident 
in  the  brain,  freezing  the  nervous  tissues 
would  cause  death.  The  human  brain  is 
largely  composed  of  common  water.  Anal- 
ysis shows  that  on  an  average  eighty-four 
per  cent  is  water,  and  only  sixteen  per  cent 
solid  material.  Therefore,  when  the  brain 


THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 


is  frozen  it  is  but  little  better  than  a  globe 
of  solid  ice. 

By  the  employment  of  highly  volatile 
liquids,  in  the  form  of  spray,  portions  of 
the  brain  have  been  frozen  temporarily  ; 
that  is,  the  portions  which  have  been  sup- 
posed to  be  the  seat  of  distinct  faculties 
have  been  brought  under  the  influence  of 
frost,  and  sensation  thereby  locally  de- 
stroyed. When  the  two  lobes  of  the  cere- 
brum, or  larger  brain,  are  frozen,  the 
phenomena  produced  are  those  indicating 
entire  loss  of  volition,  of  sensation,  all  that 
may  be  considered  intelligence  ;  there  is  a 
profound  sleep,  and  surgical  operations  can 
be  performed  upon  the  animal  without  pain. 
When  smaller  areas  of  the  brain  are  brought 
under  the  influence  of  cold  the  resulting 
phenomena  vary  in  a  remarkable  manner, 
but  the  general  effect  is  partial  suspension 
of  sensation. 

These  experiments  show  how  remarkably 
the  mind  is  under  the  control  of  its  material 
environment,  as  when  the  matter  of  the 


38  THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 

brain  is  put  into  abnormal  conditions  it  no 
longer  holds  control  but  remains  dormant. 
The  mind,  which  is  uninfluenced  in  other 
parts  of  the  body  by  cold,  goes  on  with  its 
work,  the  acts  of  respiration  are  performed 
regularly,  the  heart  continues  its  functions, 
the  blood  courses  through  the  veins  and 
arteries  as  usual.  All  these  acts,  which  are 
termed  semi-voluntary  and  involuntary,  are 
performed  when  the  brain  mass  is  frozen. 

The  deduction  might  be  drawn  from 
these  experiments  that  heat  is  the  source 
of  mind,,  or  indeed  is  mind,  inasmuch  as 
when  it  is  present  in  the  brain  its  functions 
are  active,  when  it  is  withdrawn  they  are 
dormant.  This  conclusion  would  neces- 
sitate the  belief  that  mind  is  co-related 
with  the  energies  known  as  heat,  electricity, 
and  light,  and  give  color  to  the  views  of  a 
class  of  philosophers  who  regard  mind  as 
a  form  of  energy  no  more  exalted  than  other 
forces  in  nature. 

It  is  significant  of  the  erroneous  nature 
of  such  views,  the  fact,  that  impressions 


THE   MATERIAL    MAN.  39 

made  on  the  brain  before  heat  is  withdrawn 
remain  and  with  the  restoration  of  heat  are 
continued,  showing  that  the  mind  principle 
is  still  present  although  heat  is  absent  from 
the  brain.  The  mind,  the  living  principle, 
is  not  destroyed,  but  is  so  far  influenced 
by  abnormal  physical  conditions  that  its 
activities  are  suspended.  It  is  certain  that 
mind  is  capable  of  remaining  in  a  passive 
or  inactive  state  distinct  from  the  conditions 
of  sleep  for  long  periods  of  time,  how  long 
we  do  not  know.  It  is  believed  by  some 
that  mind  impressions  are  physical  realities, 
stamped  as  it  were  on  brain  matter  when 
the  matter  on  which  it  is  set  is  in  motion  ; 
everything  we  remember  is  thus  imprinted 
on  the  brain,  on  infinite  points  of  brain  sub- 
stance each  independent  and  free.  This 
view  makes  the  brain  a  physical  microcosm, 
a  world  within  mirroring  the  world  with- 
out. 

It  is  indeed  not  difficult  to  conceive  of 
such  possibities,  inasmuch  as  we  know  what 
science  has  accomplished  in  the  field  of 


4O  THE   MATERIAL   MAN. 

microphotography.  There  are  before  me 
a  dozen  or  more  pieces  of  glass,  and  I  take 
one  of  them  in  hand  and  examine  it  with 
the  closest  scrutiny.  Nothing  but  a  minute 
speck  is  seen  upon  the  clean  surface,  but  I 
slide  the  glass  under  the  lenses  of  the 
microscope,  and  what  a  revelation  !  There 
is  spread  out  before  the  eye  a  full  page  of 
that  great  journal,  the  London  Times,  every 
line  and  letter  distinct  and  clear.  Long 
editorials  can  be  read  with  ease  by  the  aid 
of  the  lenses ;  but  remove  the  slide,  and 
the  unaided  eye  fails  to  find  any  spot  which 
cannot  be  covered  with  the  sharp  point  of 
a  needle.  On  such  infinitesimal  spaces  of 
matter  on  glass  surfaces  are  recorded  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  the  ten  commandments,  and 
other  pages  of  printed  matter. 

If  on  brain  surfaces  all  the  memories  of 
a  life-time  are  photographed,  it  is  conceiv- 
able how  space  may  be  found  for  such  a 
record,  but  this  purely  physical  view  does 
not  commend  itself  to  the  intelligent  reason. 
Mind  must  be  a  distinct  principle,  wholly 


THE    MATERIAL    MAN.  4! 

unlike  the  material  brain  through  which  it 
acts  ;  and  when  it  leaves  its  hiding-place 
in  the  physical  structure  it  carries  away  all 
there  is  of  man  worth  preserving,  his  moral 
nature.  Eight  or  nine  ounces  of  nervous 
tissue,  held  in  suspension  in  forty  or  more 
ounces  of  pure  water,  do  not  constitute  the 
mind  or  soul  of  man. 

The  gray  substance  of  the  brain  is  un- 
questionably highly  organized  material,  but 
it  is  only  matter,  and  when  out  of  control 
of  mind  obeys  the  laws  under  which  all 
matter  must  act. 

Man  as  a  whole,  studied  in  his  material 
or  chemical  relationships,  presents  no 
special  points  which  distinguish  him  from 
other  forms  of  animated  nature.  He  has 
been  described  as  nothing  more  than  a  few 
pounds  of  solids  diffused  in  a  half-dozen 
buckets  of  water,  and  this  empirical  state- 
ment contains  the  elements  of  truth. 
Considered  as  a  machine,  man  presents  the 
most  wonderful  example  of  superhuman 
wisdom  to  be  found  in  the  wide  universe 


42  THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 

of  matter.  In  structural  design  and  per- 
fection of  parts,  the  physical  man  is  indeed 
a  marvel  of  complexity  and  simplicity. 
Organic  and  functional  offices  are  conducted 
in  the  system  in  health  with  a  precision  and 
perfection  which  cannot  be  imitated  by  art. 
Every  functional  movement  appears  to  be 
guided  by  a  superior  wisdom,  and  every 
process  is  directed  by  a  subtle  chemistry 
not  understood  in  college  laboratories. 
Passing  by  the  intricate  processes  of  diges- 
tion and  assimilation,  the  secretion  of  the 
different  fluids  and  the  ejection  of  effete 
substances  from  the  body,  let  us  look  for 
a  moment  at  the  processes  by  which  growth 
is  promoted  and  the  child  is  raised  to  the 
high  estate  of  man.  As  has  been  stated, 
the  starting  point  of  a  human  being  is 
within  the  limits  of  a  single  cell,  an  object 
innnitesimally  small,  but  the  seat  of  great 
activities. 

The  simplicity  of  Topsy  in  Mrs.  Stowe's 
famous  story  of  "  Uncle  Tom  "  has  excited 
hearty  laughter  from  many  a  reader,  but 


THE   MATERIAL   MAN.  43 

not  all  have  considered  the  profound  phi- 
losophy which  lurks  beneath  her  intuition 
in  the  answer  she  gives  to  the  inquiry, 
"  who  made  her  ? "  The  question  is  a  per- 
plexing one  not  alone  to  poor  ignorant 
Topsy,  but  to  all  those  who  put  such  ques- 
tions. Not  having  been  born,  she  must 
have  "  growed,"  and  in  this  answer  she 
evades  a  question  the  most  learned  zoolo- 
gist is  not  prepared  to  solve.  She  was 
certain  that  she  "growed,"  for  the  careless 
observation  of  the  simple  and  ignorant  is 
sufficient  to  prove  that  somehow  human 
beings  increase  in  size  from  year  to  year, 
but  the  beginning-  is  covered  by  a  cloud 
without  rift  or  boundary. 

So  far  as  the  microscope  reveals  the 
nature  of  the  physical  and  chemical,  activ- 
ities involved  in  the  process  of  growth,  we 
learn  that  it  is  a  play  of  affinities  which 
corresponds  with  molecular  motion  through- 
out organic  nature.  The  single  cell  in  which 
life  begins  as  it  is  excited  by  the  fecundat- 
ing principle,  presents  a  scene  of  activities 


44  THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 

corresponding  with  those  observable  in  a 
hive  of  bees  during  the  season  when  the 
highest  supply  of  food  is  furnished  by  ex- 
panding buds  and  flowers.  The  vegetable 
cell  affords  some  distinguishing  features  in 
which  chlorophyl,  the  green  coloring  prin- 
ciple, plays  an  important  part,  but,  as  a 
whole,  chemical  action  is  the  same.  Each 
cell  has  a  nucleus  or  central  point  of  life, 
and  around  it  the  molecules  of  matter  are 
in  ceaseless  motion.  The  cell  material  is 
organized  matter  in  a  highly  excited  state, 
and  the  work  carried  on  is  confined  to 
building  up  cell  walls  and  to  laying  the 
foundation  for  new  cell  structures.  One 
cell  organism  rises  upon  another  in  the 
solid  parts,  and  in  liquids  the  cells  float 
about  and  perform'  their  functions  in  an 
unstable  condition.  Growth  in  liquids  and 
solids  is  by  the  multiplication  of  infinitesi- 
mal cells,  and  the  material  is  supplied  by 
the  nutriment  received  into  the  digestive 
organs. 

When  we  consider  the  complexity  of  the 


THE    MATERIAL    MAN.  45 

various  organs  and  parts  of  material  man, 
the  nervous  and  muscular  tissues,  the  blood, 
the  secretions,  the  brain,  the  nails,  the 
bones,  etc.,  of  the  body,  and  are  assured 
that  all  comes  from  similar  food  material, 
and  from  the  oxygen  of  the  air,  it  conveys 
to  the  mind  profound  impressions  of 
mystery.  There  is  in  the  contents  of  the 
hen's  egg  every  material  needed  to  build 
up  the  structure  of  the  chick,  consisting 
of  bones,  feathers,  bill,  feet,  eyes,  in  short, 
all  the  organs  and  appendages  of  the  little 
organism. 

The  period  of  growth,  or  that  during 
which  increase  of  mass  goes  forward,  in 
man,  is  confined  to  the  first  fifteen  or 
twenty  years  of  his  existence. 

During  this  period  the  necessary  waste 
of  tissue  continues,  and  construction  and 
repair  go  on  simultaneously,  necessitating 
a  larger  supply  of  material  than  is  needed 
at  other  epochs  in  life.  During  cell  growth, 
the  contour  of  form  is  preserved,  and  uni- 
formity of  increase  is  maintained.  One 


46  THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 

limb,  one  ear,  or  one  bone,  does  not  grow 
faster  than  another ;  the  blood  is  the  grand 
carrier  of  material  and  it  circulates  every- 
where. The  little  molecules  crowd  and 
push  their  way  into  the  minutest  tubes  of 
every  part  of  the  growing  child,  and  bring 
along  the  carbon,  nitrogen,  oxygen,  lime, 
and  other  material  needed,  and  the  cells  are 
built  up  and  they  multiply  until  the  mature 
form  of  man  is  perfected. 

In  the  process  of  growth  and  in  the  sup- 
ply of  waste  material  in  the  body,  we  have 
to  study  the  evolutions  and  chemical 
changes  of  matter,  and  in  material  man  we 
have  nothing  but  matter  to  consider  and 
bring  into  the  field  of  research.  At  this 
point  the  important  inquiry  arises,  what  is 
matter  ? 

The  positive  manner  in  which  matter 
is  spoken  of  in  scientific  discussion  leads 
one  to  conclude  that  it  is  well  understood, 
and  that  it  is  easy  to  define  what  it  is. 
In  looking  out  upon  the  world  of  matter, 
we  see  an  infinite  variety  of  forms,  and 


THE   MATERIAL    MAN.  47 

to  these  we  have  given  names,  and  have 
learned  that  each  form  has  its  own  char- 
acteristics and  is  marked  by  peculiar  be- 
havior. Matter  is  attended  by  phenomena 
of  motion  and  affinity,  which  two  distin- 
guishing points  constitute  the  whole  field 
of  study  open  to  man.  There  are  more 
than  sixty  bodies  which  are  distinguish- 
able by  their  peculiar  physical  appear- 
ance and  by  their  behavior  and  reactions. 
These  bodies  we  call  elements  ;  and  when 
they  group  themselves  together  they  are 
called  molecules  ;  and  when  these  combine 
in  mass,  a  body  results,  which  may  be  solid, 
liquid,  or  gaseous,  and  to  which  is  given  a 
name  which  distinguishes  it  from  all  other 
bodies.  After  a  careful  study  of  a  body, 
we  are  still  in  the  dark  regarding  what  it 
is.  Very  many  of  the  most  active  and 
wonderful  forms  which  have  been  studied, 
and  which  are  supposed  to  be  well  under- 
stood, have  never  been  seen  by  the  eye  of 
the  investigator.  Thes.e  forms  of  matter 
are  exceedingly  wonderful  and  interesting ; 


48  THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 

the  element  nitrogen  affords  a  striking 
example,  and  its  history  and  affinities  are 
worthy  of  brief  notice. 

Nitrogen  belongs  to  a  class  of  bodies 
which  are  incapable  of  influencing  any  of 
the  senses  so  far  as  to  be  recognized  by 
them.  It  cannot  be  seen,  tasted,  nor 
touched  so  as  to  produce  tangible  impres- 
sions, and  it  has  no  odor.  During  all  the 
ages,  until  within  little  more  than  a  cen- 
tury, mankind  were  wholly  ignorant  of  its 
existence.  It  is  a  form  of  matter  found 
in  a  permanently  aeriform  state,  or  as  a 
gaseous  body,  which  under  no  ordinary 
conditions  can  be  made  to  assume  a  solid 
or  liquid  form.  The  atmosphere  is  its 
home  and  hiding-place,  and  therefore  it  is 
constantly  in  close  proximity  with  our 
bodies,  and  with  everything  existing  upon 
the  earth.  It  passes  into  the  cavity  of  the 
lungs  of  all  breathing  animals  at  every 
inspiration,  traverses  the  circuit  of  the  air- 
cells,  and  is  expelled  as  nitrogen  without 
diminution  of  volume  or  any  chemical 


THE    MATERIAL    MAN.  49 

change  whatever.  The  volume  of  free 
nitrogen  in  the  air  is  immense,  and  its 
weight  as  it  rests  upon  the  earth's  crust 
can  be  understood  only  by  a  consideration 
of  the  figures  which  approximately  repre- 
sent it.  The  whole  weight  of  the  nitrogen 
contained  in  the  gaseous  envelope  of  our 
planet  may  approximately  be  stated  to  be 
three  quadrillions,  nine  hundred  and  ninety- 
four  trillions,  five  hundred  and  ninety-two 
billions,  nine  hundred  and  twenty-five  mil- 
lions of  tons  !  The  popular  notion  of  its 
use  in  the  atmosphere,  that  it  is  simply  a 
diluent  of  oxygen,  is  probably  correct.  It 
must  subserve  other  and  important  pur- 
poses, but  to  ordinary  observation  it  appears 
to  have  been  supplied  by  the  Supreme 
Intelligence,  for  the  main  purpose  of  so 
attenuating  oxygen  as  to  keep  it  within 
safe  bounds  as  a  respiratory  agent  and 
supporter  of  combustion.  It  is  the  most 
stupid,  so  to  speak,  and  negative  of 
the  large  family  of  elements.  It  resists 
chemical  combinations  with  remarkable 


5O  THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 

persistency,  and  when  forced  into  such 
unions  the  affinity  is  slight  and  disruption 
is  easy.  It  may  be  said  to  be  the  most 
unimportant  and  yet  the  most  important  of 
all  the  elements,  —  a  paradoxical  statement 
easily  comprehended  by  every  chemist.  It 
is  docile,  negative,  unaggressive,  in  its 
natural  state,  but  when  forced  into  combi- 
nation with  oxygen  it  gives  us  acids  with 
teeth  sharp  enough  to  gnaw  a  file.  When 
combined  with  potash,  and  the  resultant 
salt  mixed  with  a  little  sulphur  and  char- 
coal, it  gives  us  gunpowder,  an  agent  well 
known  to  possess  extraordinary  properties. 
When  associated  with  the  bland  and  sweet 
substance  known  as  glycerine,  it  forms 
nitro-glycerine,  dynamite,  lithofracture, 
giant-powder,  —  agents  so  terrible  as  to 
appall  mankind  by  their  destructiveness. 
Shreds  of  cotton  picked  from  the  ripened 
bolls  which  open  to  the  Southern  sun, 
when  placed  for  a  few  moments  in  the  acid 
which  is  born  of  nitrogen,  suddenly  lose 
their  innocent  nature,  and  become  giants 


THE    MATERIAL    MAN.  51 

in  power,  capable  of  levelling  forests  and 
mountains  at  the  touch  of  fire.  Nitrogen 
forms  the  basis  upon  which  rest  the  great 
chemical  forces  so  destructive  and  yet  so 
useful  to  the  race.  It  comes  out  of  its 
chemical  unions  with  a  crash,  but  it  at 
once  assumes  its  usual  dead  condition,  and 
floats  in  the  air  with  all  the  harmlessness  of 
the  summer  breeze.  When  introduced  into 
the  human  or  animal  organism,  it  originates 
and  sustains  nervous  or  muscular  force. 
We  move  our  limbs  and  conduct  the  physi- 
cal labors  of  life  through  the  agency  of 
nitrogen  or  its  compounds.  Our  animals 
—  the  oxen  and  horses  which  we  rear  — 
are  serviceable  in  the  yoke  and  harness 
only  through  the  changes  resulting  in  the 
combinations  and  elimination  of  nitrogen. 
After  it  has  served  its  purpose  in  the  body, 
it  does  not  as  a  whole  escape  into  the  air, 
as  when  it  is  set  free  by  explosions,  but  it 
appears  in  the  liquid  and  solid  excrement 
in  certain  forms  of  combination,  which  to 
become  fixed  and  serviceable  as  plant  food 


52  THE    MATERIAL   MAN. 

must  receive  intelligent  care.  The  prone- 
ness  of  nitrogen  to  disassociate  or  free 
itself  from  its  combinations  is  seen  in  the 
changes  which  excrement  undergoes  soon 
after  leaving  the  animal  organism.  So 
long  as  any  nitrogenous  compound  is  con- 
trolled by  the  vital  forces  of  animal  life  it 
is  held  in  check  and  the  equilibrium  is 
preserved,  but  as  soon  as  the  external  air 
is  reached  it  struggles  to  free  itself  from 
its  environment.  The  highly  organized 
compounds  take  on  fermentative  changes  ; 
hydrogen  is  evolved,  another  gaseous  body, 
and  the  nitrogen  is  led  into  an  alliance 
with  this  element  in  such  proportions  as 
to  form  ammonia.  Ammonia  is  dis- 
tinguished for  its  volatility  or  readiness  to 
escape,  whether  it  be  free  or  in  the  form 
of  carbonate.  This  statement  of  what  is 
supposed  to  be  known  of  nitrogen,  its 
nature,  affinities,  behavior,  etc.,  may  be 
regarded  as  applicable  to  many  other  simple 
and  compound  bodies.  The  attendant 
phenomena  are  not  observable,  neither  are 


THE    MATERIAL    MAN.  53 

they  distinctly  understood ;  but  the  facts 
are  deducible  from  the  results  of  experi- 
ment with  the  aid  of  appliances  which 
science  supplies,  therefore  they  are  set 
down  as  known  facts. 

The  study  of  the  behavior  of  matter 
has  not  resulted  in  throwing  satisfactory 
light  upon  the  problem  as  to  what  it  is. 

To  the  modern  experimenter,  matter  is 
only  known  by  what  it  does.  It  is  said 
to  have  weight ;  but  if  gravitation  is,  as 
seems  probable,  only  a  "wave  motion" 
correlated  with  light,  heat,  electricity,  etc., 
we  are  deprived  of  the  most  significant 
method  of  designating  matter  in  its  appar- 
ent or  gross  conditions.  Matter  has  form, 
substance  ;  but  if,  as  has  been  proved, 
the  interstices  between  the  molecules,  so 
called,  are  so  great  as  to  allow  of  ceaseless 
motion,  an  unending  clashing  of  forces, 
our  ideas  of  solidity  or  substance  vanish. 
If  matter  is  not  what  it  seems  to  be,  in 
so  far  as  weight  and  substance  are  in- 
volved, there  is  little  left  in  the  universe 


54  THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 

but  what  is  regarded  as  force  and  "ether," 
and  of  the  nature  of  these  we  know  noth- 
ing positively.  The  ether  of  space,  con- 
cerning the  existence  of  which  there  is 
scarcely  room  for  doubt,  is  matter,  but  in 
such  an  attenuated  form  as  to  approach 
the  supposed  condition  of  spirit.  Professor 
Tyndall  thinks  this  ether  to  be  matter, 
but  not  a  form  of  ordinary  matter.  As 
we  do  not  understand  the  form  of  ordi- 
nary matter,  it  is  hardly  philosophical  to 
assume  that  an  unknown  form  is  like  or 
unlike  another  no  better  understood.  In 
discussing  the  constitution  of  matter,  the 
existence  of  atoms  and  molecules  is  as- 
sumed ;  but  have  we  any  proof  of  the 
existence  of  these  bodies,  or  have  we  any 
language  in  which  we  can  satisfactorily 
describe  them  ?  We  can  easily  conceive 
of  things  we  cannot  see  ;  but  when  we 
come  to  atoms,  the  mind  can  no  more 
comprehend  their  minuteness,  if  they  ex- 
ist at  all,  than  it  can  the  infinity  of  space 
in  the  stellar  universe. 


THE    MATERIAL    MAN.  55 

V 

Faraday,  in  speaking  of  atoms,  calls 
them  "  lines  of  force,"  "  centres  of  force," 
and  does  not  seem  to  regard  them  as 
little  bodies  surrounded  by  forces.  He 
remarks  in  an  interesting  paper  that  "the 
force  of  forces  constitutes  matter  ;  there 
is  no  space  between  the  particles  distinct 
from  the  particles  of  matter."  This  is  a 
confused  statement,  and  serves  to  show 
how  a  great  mind  will  struggle  in  at- 
tempts to  comprehend  the  incomprehen- 
sible. Another  distinguished  physicist 
calls  atoms  "  mathematical  points,"  a  term 
which  has  no  meaning  in  the  connection 
in  which  it  is  used. 

The  existence  of  atoms  and  molecules 
as  distinct  bodies  being  assumed,  attempts 
to  define  their  minuteness  might  be  ex- 
pected from  those  who  never  shrink  from 
the  solution  of  the  most  intricate  prob- 
lems. The  highest  powers  of  our  best 
modern  microscope  will  enable  us  to  see 
objects  §5^5  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and 
we  may  inquire  what  sort  of  relation  this 


56  THE    MATERIAL    MAN. 

power  of  microscopically  assisted  vision 
bears  to  the  probable  size  of  molecules  of 
matter.  The  results  obtained  by  Stoney, 
Thompson,  and  Clerk-Maxwell,  in  attempts 
to  calculate  from  different  data  the  num- 
ber of  ultimate  atoms  in  a  given  volume 
of  any  permanent  and  perfect  gas  at  zero, 
and  at  a  pressure  of  one  atmosphere,  vary 
greatly.  Thompson  assigns  as  the  greatest 
possible  limit  98,320,000,000,000,  in  7^3 
of  an  inch  cube,  which  is  i>0oo,^oo,oco  of  one 
cubic  inch.  Clerk-Maxwell  made  it  only 
311,000,000,000,  Stoney  1,901,000,000,000. 
Mr.  Sorby  has  stated  that  he  feels  justi- 
fied, for  various  reasons,  in  doubling  Clerk- 
Maxwell's  figures,  and  assumes  the  num- 
ber of  atoms  in  a  cubic  7^5  of  an  inch  of 
gas  to  be  6,000,000,000,000.  These  num- 
bers are  sufficiently  astounding,  but  the 
enormous  difference  in  results  serves  to 
show  how  little  is  absolutely  known,  or 
can  be  known,  regarding  atoms.  If  there 
exist  such  bodies  as  atoms,  they  are,  as 
Mr.  Sorby  suggests,  so  infinitely  minute, 


THE    MATERIAL    MAN.  57 

that  light  is  too  coarse  a  medium  to  enable 
us  to  see  them,  even  if  we  could  add  suffi- 
ciently to  the  powers  of  our  microscopes. 
It  is  clear,  if  we  do  not  know  what  mat- 
ter is,  that  the  nature  of  material  man  is 
still  an  unsolved  problem.  As  he  stands 
revealed  to  the  sense  of  sight,  we  have 
impressions  of  form,  of  substance,  of  that 
which  is  real,  and  these  impressions  an- 
swer all  the  purposes  of  our  material  con- 
dition of  existence.  Life  may  be  a  delu- 
sion, a  dream,  and  there  is  much  to  lead 
to  such  a  view  ;  but  it  is  nevertheless 
active,  real,  and  crowded  with  momentous 
duties  and  responsibilities. 


THE   SPIRITUAL   MAN. 


IT  is  rather  more  than  eighteen  cen- 
turies since  a  man  who  made  no  claim 
to  being  a  philosopher,  metaphysician,  or 
biologist,  in  writing  of  the  relationships  of 
material  man  to  another  state  of  existence, 
asserted  with  all  the  posiliveness  of  pro- 
found conviction,  that  "there  is  a  natural 
(or  material)  body,  and  there  is  a  spiritual 
body."  This  writer  is  lightly  regarded  by 
some  critics,  and  as  he  was  certainly  with- 
out a  knowledge  of  physics,  or  psychics, 
as  understood  by  modern  investigators,  his 
views  are  not  quoted  or  held  as  authori- 
tative by  scientific  bodies  of  the  present 
age.  Those  who  speak  of  Paul  as  a  mere 
theologian  and  enthusiast  should  remember 
that  he  was  the  interpreter  and  expounder 
of  the  doctrines  and  moral  maxims  of  one 
58 


THE   SPIRITUAL    MAN.  59 

infinitely  greater  than  himself,  and  that 
his  Master  had  repeatedly  asserted  the 
same  doctrine  of  the  dual  nature  of  man. 
It  was,  indeed,  the  fundamental  ground 
work  upon  which  his  doctrines  and  claims 
rested,  —  the  pivotal  point  of  all  his  teach- 
ings. 

The  term  "spiritual  body,"  as  used  by 
this  writer,  was  intended  to  convey  the 
idea  that  there  is  associated  with  structural 
man  an  unseen  body  which  corresponds 
with  that  which  is  open  to  the  sense  of 
sight.  The  design  is  to  show  that  the 
spiritual  man  is  the  counterpart  of  material 
man,  in  form  and  physical  characteristics  ; 
that  one  is  separable  from  the  other,  and 
that  one  is  as  real  as  the  other.  The 
doctrine  is  taught  elsewhere  by  the  writer, 
that  "spiritual  things  are  spiritually  dis- 
cerned," that  is,  that  each  human  being 
has  spiritual  eyes,  which,  when  opened,  will 
enable  one  to  see  this  spiritual  body,  in- 
visible to  the  material  sight  The  end  and 
design  of  the  argument  is  to  convince 


6O  THE    SPIRITUAL    MAN. 

those  who  listened  and  those  who  read, 
that  the  spiritual  man  is  a  pervasive  prin- 
ciple throughout  the  physical  organism,  a 
something  which  is  vastly  more  than 
shadow,  more  than  essence,  more  than  the 
misty  outlines  of  a  dream,  and  that  it  is 
imperishable. 

Neither  Paul  or  his  master  asserted 
duality  in  nature,  as  did  some  of  the  ancient 
philosophers.  Plato  and  Anaxagoras  pre- 
tended to  discover  in  nature  a  double  order 
of  arrangement,  a  seen  and  unseen  system, 
which  in  some  aspects  corresponded  with 
man's  duality.  It  was  reserved  for  the 
great  teacher  of  Nazareth  to  assert  the 
existence  and  dominating  power  of  the 
spiritual  man. 

This  doctrine,  as  a  strictly  scientific 
problem,  receives  no  attention,  and  is 
hardly  regarded  as  a  legitimate  subject  for 
serious  discussion.  The  "Concepts  of 
Modern  Physics  "  have  no  pages  devoted 
to  a  consideration  of  this  doctrine,  and  no 
treatise  or  essay  received  as  having  weight 


THE    SPIRITUAL    MAN.  6 1 

brings  it  to  view.  There  are,  however, 
many  striking  analogies  found  in  nature, 
and  especially  in  man's  physical  organiza- 
tion, which,  studied  in  the  light  of  his  dual 
nature,  are  interesting  and  suggestive  ;  and 
there  are  also  many  facts  in  biological 
science  which  go  far  to  sustain  the  view 
under  consideration.  We  will  first  point 
out  some  analogies  found  in  structural 
man :  — 

The  duplication  of  external  organs  or 
parts,  as  two  eyes,  two  ears,  two  nostrils, 
two  hands,  two  feet,  etc.,  may  not  have 
special  significancy,  but  when  we  study  the 
hidden  structure  of  man,  revelations  are 
made,  which,  to  say  the  least,  are  worthy 
of  thought.  In  the  osseous  dome  which 
covers  the  brain  we  have  two  plates,  and 
there  are  two  membranous  curtains,  cov- 
ering the  nervous  tissues  of  the  brain  ;  in 
this  organ,  then,  we  have  two  great  divisions 
or  hemispheres.  There  are  two  kinds  of 
blood  circulating  through  the  tissues,  with 
two  systems  of  ducts,  each  conveying  its 


62  THE   SPIRITUAL    MAN. 

appropriate  fluid;  the  blood  itself  holds 
two  kinds  of  corpuscles,  the  white  and  the 
red,  and  two  metals,  iron  and  thallium ; 
phosphorus  exists  in  two  forms  in  the 
tissues,  oxidized  and  unoxidized  ;  there  are 
two  divisions  of  nerves,  two  prominent 
secretions  from  membranes,  the  mucous 
and  serous ;  two  forms  of  excreta,  liquid 
and  solid ;  two  processes  in  digestion,  two 
in  assimilation ;  we  inspire  oxygen  and 
expire  carbonic  acid  ;  there  are  two  glands 
for  the  secretion  of  saliva,  two  for  tears ; 
two  organs  for  respiration,  and  the  bones 
are  composed  of  two  forms  of  matter,  tri- 
calcic  phosphate  and  gelatine.  The  enum- 
eration might  be  carried  much  further,  but 
enough  is  pointed  out  to  show  that  duality 
exists  in  man's  physical  nature,  which  may 
be  regarded  as  significant  of  a  crowning 
act  of  duality  in  the  bestowal  of  a  spiritual 
nature  in  association  with  the  material. 

The  sense  of  vision  in  its  normal  action 
is  like  the  other  senses,  adapted  only  to 
the  necessities  of  man's  organized  nature ; 


THE   SPIRITUAL    MAN.  63 

but  there  is  abundant  evidence  to  show 
that  under  unusual  conditions  the  spiritual 
sight  is  capable  of  holding  the  natural  in 
abeyance,  and  by  its  exercise  bringing  to 
view  the  unseen  in  the  natural  and  spiritual 
worlds.  Beyond  the  possibility  of  a  doubt 
there  is  a  condition  when  the  material  man 
is  practically  dead,  dead  as  when  under  the 
influence  of  cold  the  brain  is  frozen  solid. 
In  such  instances  the  spiritual  does  not 
part  from  the  material.  When  caloric  is 
absent  from  the  brain,  both  the  spiritual 
and  material  functions  are  inactive ;  when 
the  spiritual  dominates  over  the  material, 
the  latter  is  alone  inactive,  that  is,  it  can- 
not influence  the  spiritual  and  chain  it  to 
gross  matter,  —  it  rises  superior  to  its 
environment. 

The  human  mind  is  a  much  more  exalted 
form  of  energy,  if  it  may  be  so  designated, 
than  it  seems  to  be  in  its  association  with 
matter ;  and  this  exalted  state  is  shown 
whenever  conditions  are  favorable  for  its 
exercise.  The  psychological  peculiarities 


64  THE    SPIRITUAL    MAN. 

of  some  individuals  permit,  apparently,  the 
temporary  separation  of  mind  from  nervous 
tissue,  and  of  its  exercise  when  in  the 
freed  state.  It  looks  through  the  universe 
unhindered  by  matter — indeed  it  appears 
to  be  independent  of  it.  The  scope  of  its 
vision  is  broad  enough  to  unfold  activities 
in  nature,  of  which  it  is  impossible  for  the 
material  man  to  take  cognizance.  The 
speed  with  which  it  moves  finds  an  ex- 
ample only  in  the  electrical  force  and  in 
the  movements  of  light  rays  from  luminous 
bodies.  Walls  of  brick  or  stone  which 
effectually  shut  out  light,  and  hinder  the 
passage  of  the  electrical  force,  are  trans- 
parent to  the  eye  of  the  mind  in  the  freed 
condition,  and  they  offer  no  more  obstacles 
to  this  exalted  vision  than  they  do  to 
thought. 

Thought,  which  is  at  all  times  untram- 
melled, is  indeed  but  a  function  of  the 
mind,  a  manifestation  of  the  mind's  capa- 
bilities when  free  from  the  control  of 
matter.  It  is  .easy  to  think  of  a  distant 


THE    SPIRITUAL    MAN.  65 

city  or  country  without  any  appreciable 
lapse  of  time,  but  we  cannot  see  distant 
cities  because  sight  is  a  local  impression, 
under  ordinary  conditions,  and  is  dependent 
upon  the  co-operation  of  matter.  Free 
the  sense  of  sight  from  its  material  en- 
vironment, and  it  then  becomes,  like 
thought,  unlimited  in  its  capacities. 

Difficult  of  comprehension  as  is  the  dual 
nature  of  man,  it  supplies  scarcely  greater 
difficulties  than  are  presented  in  many  of 
the  relationships  of  different  forms  of 
matter.  The  osseous  framework  of  man 
has  a  dual  nature,  and  affords  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  association  of  two  forms 
of  matter  utterly  distinct,  one  belonging 
to  the  dead  inorganic  world,  the  other 
to  the  organic  or  living.  We  have  here 
analogies  worth  noticing.  The  spirit  of 
man  may  be  likened  to  the  gelatinous 
portion  of  bones,  and  the  body  to  the 
calcic  or  earthy  portion,  the  latter  com- 
pletely masking  the  former,  or  living 
principle.  Before  the  discovery  of  pow- 


66  THE   SPIRITUAL   MAN. 

erful  acids,  a  century  or  more  ago,  no 
one  then  living  could  understand  that 
dry  bones  contained  an  organic  living 
principle  distinct  from  the  refractory  sub- 
stance open  to  the  eye.  Bone  material 
presents  a  hard,  compact  surface  and 
texture  closely  resembling  limestone,  to 
which  it  is  allied.  It  resists  for  long 
periods  the  action  of  those  disintegrating 
forces  which  speedily  turn  to  dust  and 
gases  the  other  portions  of  the  body,  and, 
unless  the  substance  is  demanded  for  use 
in  the  arts,  is  a  waste  and  troublesome 
product. 

Let  us  look  at  the  analogies  supplied 
by  osseous  substances,  as  illustrating  the 
co-existence  of  body  and  spirit.  If  we 
take  the  dry  osseous  human  skeleton  and 
place  it  in  a  tank  of  hydrochloric  acid, 
changing  the  acid  as  often  as  it  becomes 
saturated  with  the  calcic  element,  we  find 
that  in  a  few  weeks,  or  perhaps  months, 
the  inorganic  portion  has  entirely  disap- 
peared, but  there  remains,  occupying  the 


THE   SPIRITUAL   MAN.  6/ 

same  space  and  preserving  the  same  form, 
a  skeleton  which  is  no  longer  bone.  The 
framework  of  ribs,  vertebrae,  etc.,  is  no 
longer  opaque  and  solid,  but  transparent 
and  yielding  to  the  touch ;  the  soul  or 
spirit,  so  to  speak,  of  the  bone  structure 
remains,  but  the  earthy  portion  has  been 
resolved  into  other  forms  of  matter.  This 
organic  form  of  the  osseous  structure  of 
man  can  be  preserved  in  proper  liquids 
for  an  indefinite  period  of  time,  after  the 
bone  has  been  forced  into  new  chemical 
combinations. 

If  we  had  an  agent  capable  of  dissolving 
the  material  body  of  a  living  man,  leaving 
untouched  the  spiritual  form,  so  that  our 
natural  eyes  could  behold  it  in  its  dis- 
severed state,  it  would  be  a  revelation  but 
little  more  wonderful  than  what  has  been 
described.  The  process  called  death  lifts 
the  spiritual  body  out  of  the  material 
without  the  intervention  of  solvents  de- 
vised by  human  skill ;  and  although  we 
cannot  see  the  act  of  separation  with  our 


68  THE    SPIRITUAL    MAN. 

visual  organs,  it  may  be  open  to  the 
spiritual  eyes  of  those  who  have  ex- 
perienced the  change. 

The  remark  is  often  made  by  educated 
men  that  they  are  entirely  unable  to  en- 
tertain conceptions  of  spirit,  or  form  any 
idea  of  its  nature  or  capabilities,  and 
therefore  they  cherish  stolid  disbelief  in 
its  existence.  Such  should  remember  that 
they  are  as  clearly  incompetent  to  under- 
stand the  nature  of  matter  and  most  of 
the  laws  by  which  it  is  influenced. 

A  few  years  ago,  before  science  re- 
moved the  thick  veil  which  hid  from  view 
many  of  the  secrets  of  nature,  mankind 
were  walking  amid  mysteries  which  met 
them  at  every  step.  As  regards  respira- 
tion, they  did  not  know  anything  of  the 
nature  of  the  air,  or  why  it  was  so  per- 
fectly adapted  to  maintain  animal  life ; 
they  did  not  know  when  a  fire  was  kindled 
upon  the  hearth  what  was  the  cause  or 
what  the  nature  of  the  phenomena  of 
combustion ;  they  did  not  know  or  believe 


THE    SPIRITUAL    MAN.  69 

that  air  was  a  material  substance,  having 
weight  like  sand  or  water;  they  did  not 
believe  that  water,  or  one  of  its  elements, 
was  combustible,  and  that  the  other  was 
the  grand  supporter  of  combustion.  These 
and  many  other  of  the  secrets  of  nature 
were  hidden  from  their  eyes  and  under- 
standings, but  not  from  ours.  We  can 
explain  and  demonstrate  a  thousand  pro- 
cesses and  movements  in  nature  which 
cannot  be  understood ;  and  if  we  yield 
belief  to  only  that  which  we  see  and  fully 
comprehend,  our  field  of  knowledge  is 
reduced  to  narrow  limits. 

There  is  as  good  ground  for  agnosticism 
in  physics  as  in  psychics.  A  considerable 
number  of  the  movements  and  changes  in 
the  physical  world,  which  are  regarded  as 
well-ascertained  facts,  are  still  lingering 
in  the  domain  of  hypothesis.  Electricity 
in  itself  considered,  and  much  of  its 
attendant  phenomena,  belongs  to  the 
realm  of  the  unknown.  We  call  it  force, 
but  after  bestowing  upon  it  a  name  it  still 
remains  a  mystery. 


7<D  THE    SPIRITUAL    MAN. 

Considered  as  a  thing,  we  know  as  much 
of  spirit  as  we  do  of  electricity.  The  claim 
that  one  is  a  physical,  the  other  a  moral 
force,  is  unsatisfactory,  as  the  distinction 
is  clearly  indefinable.  The  physical  and 
spiritual  forces  are  capable  of  producing 
like  impressions  upon  matter,  and  influ- 
encing its  multiform  changes. 

Those  among  the  educated  classes  who 
speak  derisively  of  the  results  of  biologi- 
cal research  and  of  some  observed  occult 
psychical  phenomena,  are  apt  to  place  in 
contrast  what  are  called  demonstrable 
facts  in  physical  science,  and  claim  a 
much  clearer  insight  in  that  direction  than 
is  warrantable.  It  is  hazardous  for  any 
one  to  venture  far  in  bringing  to  view  dis- 
paraging contrasts,  for  it  is  easy  to  show 
that  physical  science  is  hedged  in  by  bar- 
riers which  effectively  oppose  its  progress 
and  the  domain  of  the  unknown  is  a  field 
whose  boundaries  are  as  wide  as  the  phys- 
ical universe. 

If  it  be  true  that  man  is  pervaded  by  a 


THE   SPIRITUAL    MAN. 


spiritual  nature  corresponding  with  his 
material,  and  that  this  nature  is  indestruc- 
tible, or  is  uninfluenced  by  any  of  the 
physical  disturbances  which  cause  injury 
to  the  organic  man,  it  follows  that  all  such 
injuries  leave  the  spiritual  man  untouched. 
If  a  limb  is  removed  by  the  knife  of  the 
surgeon,  it  is  only  flesh  that  is  taken  away  ; 
the  spiritual  limb  is  unharmed  and  contin- 
ues its  company  so  long  as  life  remains. 
Are  there  no  facts  which  tend  to  show 
that  such  may  indeed  be  the  case  ?  In 
nearly  or  perhaps  quite  all  the  instances  of 
loss  of  limbs  during  the  late  war,  the  suf- 
ferers affirm  that  the  excised  member  is  at 
times  as  really  present  to  the  sensation  as 
before  the  casualty  occurred,  and  the  feel- 
ing of  heat  and  cold  and  even  of  pain  in 
the  space  once  filled  by  the  absent  limb 
are  experienced  keenly.  A  man  who  lost 
an  arm  twenty  years  ago  states  that  the 
impression  remains  that  he  can  use  the 
absent  hand  and  fingers,  and  he  is  con- 
stantly striving  to  pick  up  articles  with  the 


72  THE    SPIRITUAL    MAN. 

"phantom  hand."  The  index  finger  of 
the  left  hand  was  lost  by  the  writer  more 
than  fifty  years  ago,  and  still  sensations  of 
the  form  to  a  large  extent  remain,  and  in 
attempts  to  play  upon  musical  instruments 
requiring  all  the  fingers,  the  missing  one 
is  felt  to  act  with  the  others.  It  is  not 
unusual  to  notice  one-limbed  men  holding 
to  the  fire  in  winter  the  true  and  the  false 
foot  to  be  warmed.  This  class  of  phe- 
nomena may  be  explained  in  the  usual 
way,  by  placing  them  in  the  field  of  mental 
illusions  or  hallucinations,  and  endeavor- 
ing to  show  that  the  brain  in  these 
instances  is  perverted  in  its  functions. 
Such  explanations  are  not,  however,  satis- 
factory. 

The  instances  of  what  are  known  as 
second  sight,  clairvoyance,  etc.,  are  not 
unusual,  and  so  well  authenticated  as  posi- 
tively to  forbid  doubt.  If  there  are  spirit- 
ual senses  independent  of  the  material,  if 
there  is  spiritual  sight,  hearing,  smell,  etc., 
of  an  exalted  nature  in  man,  latent  under 


THE    SPIRITUAL    MAN.  73 

ordinary  conditions  when  the  material 
body  has  control,  it  may  serve  to  explain 
such  phenomena.  Several  persons  are 
known  to  me  who,  while  in  a  peculiar  con- 
dition called  "  trance,"  can  tell  the  time 
by  a  watch  with  great  accuracy  when  the 
hands  are  moved  to  any  position  on  the 
dial,  and  the  watch  is  covered  by  double 
cases  and  wrapped  in  a  napkin.  The 
watch  in  these  instances  may  be  placed 
on  the  back  of  the  head  of  the  person  or 
held  in  the  hand  of  the  experimenter.  A 
young  lady  of  the  highest  culture  and  re- 
spectability, connected  with  the  family  of 
a  former  neighbor  and  friend,  has  in  my 
presence  recited  whole  pages  of  a  sermon 
as  it  was  written  by  a  clergyman  on  a 
Sunday  morning  in  his  study  half  a  mile 
distant.  While  this  recitation  was  pro- 
ceeding (the  transaction  was  new  and 
wholly  unexpected  to  the  family),  the 
father  visited  the  study  of  the  clergyman 
and  brought  back  the  manuscript  with  the 
ink  scarcely  dry,  and  compared  it  with  the 


74  THE    SPIRITUAL    MAN. 

words  of  his  daughter  as  I  had  faithfully 
taken  them  from  her  lips.  The  two  were 
precisely  alike,  hardly  differing  in  a  single 
word.  In  this  instance  there  was  no  col- 
lusion, no  trick ;  such  would  have  been 
impossible,  if  the  high  position  of  the  par- 
ties had  not  forbidden  suspicion.  In- 
stances of  this  so-called  "  second-sight " 
are  plenty  enough,  and  they  rest  on  testi- 
mony which  silences  incredulity.  They 
are,  however,  not  more  numerous,  per- 
haps, than  instances  of  exalted  hearing. 
Music  has  been  heard  by  many  persons, 
and  every  stage  in  the  progress  of  a  con- 
cert in  a  distant  city  correctly  described. 

If  we  accept  the  theory  of  man's  dual 
nature,  it  is  easy  to  understand  how  the 
spiritual  or  more  exalted  senses,  under 
certain  idiosyncrasies  of  conditions,  might 
act  independent  of  material  environment. 
If  they  are  thus  able  to  act,  it  is  certainly 
in  accordance  with  design,  and  intended 
for  a  wise  and  beneficent  purpose. 

This  assumption  of  a  spiritual  form  co. 


THE    SPIRITUAL   MAN.  75 

existent  in  man  naturally  raises  the  inquiry, 
why  do  not  conditions  occur  under  which 
it  may  be  made  manifest  to  the  ordinary 
sense  of  vision  ?  It  is  well  known  to  every 
reader  that  many  persons  of  the  highest 
literary  and  scientific  acquirements  assert 
that  the  spiritual  form  has  been  seen  by 
them. 

Dr.  William  Crookes,  of  London,  editor 
of  the  London  Chemical  News  and  London 
Quarterly  Journal  of  Science,  certainly  one 
of  the  most  eminent  chemists  and  physi- 
cists now  living,  asserts  positively  that  the 
phanton  form  of  a  lady  appeared  on  several 
occasions  in  his  own  library,  and  conditions 
were  such  as  to  preclude  all  possibility  of 
fraud  or  collusion.  This  assertion  from  so 
careful,  cool,  and  competent  an  experi- 
menter as  Dr.  Crookes  would  be  worthy  of 
consideration  did  it  stand  alone ;  but  sup- 
plemented and  supported  as  it  is  by  the 
experiences  and  experiments  of  Mr.  Alfred 
R.  Wallace,  who,  since  the  death  of  Mr. 
Darwin,  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  most 


76  THE    SPIRITUAL    MAN. 

eminent  naturalist  and  biologist  in  Eng- 
land, and  Mr.  Varley,  the  well-known 
electrician,  and  many  other  students  in 
science,  the  statement  becomes  one  of 
great  interest,  strange  and  extraordinary 
as  it  is.  The  number  of  eminent  men, 
acknowledged  to  be  leaders  in  the  advance 
of  physical  and  biological  science  in  all 
parts  of  Europe  and  the  United  States, 
who  have  thoroughly  investigated  similar 
alleged  psychical  phenomena  and  are  found 
willing  to  lend  their  great  names  in  attesta- 
tion of  its  absolute  verity,  certainly  afford 
a  scientific  basis  upon  which  it  may  rest. 
The  announcement  in  April,  1882,  by  M. 
Pasteur,  at  a  meeting  of  the  French  Insti- 
tute, of  his  spiritualistic  beliefs,  is  signifi- 
cant of  that  modification  of  views  in 
psychics  and  spiritual  philosophy,  which  is 
revolutionary  in  its  nature.  It  must  not 
be  supposed  that  Pasteur,  or  other  of  the 
eminent  gentlemen  to  whom  allusion  has 
been  made,  has  any  affiliations  with  a  class 
of  men  and  women,  who,  distinguished 


THE   SPIRITUAL    MAN.  77 

only  for  their  ignorance  and  irregular  lives, 
travel  from  point  to  point  as  public  exhib- 
itors of  a  spiritualistic  jugglery,  interesting 
only  to  the  weak  and  credulous.  They 
represent  the  stage  of  chaos  which  usually 
precedes  the  dawn  of  new  truths  for  ben- 
eficent ends. 

In  view  of  what  has  been  presented  it  is 
probable  Paul  was  right  when  he  declared 
that  "  there  is  a  spiritual  body  "  associated 
with  the  natural  body.  It  rriay  be  that  his 
intuition  was  the  result  of  whisperings 
from  disembodied  spiritual  forms  of  patri- 
archs and  prophets  who  crowded  around 
him  in  his  ministrations,  and  who,  illumin- 
ated by  a  brighter  light  than  beams  upon 
the  pathway  of  material  man,  were  able  to 
assist  him  in  securing  insight  into  some  of 
the  momentous  problems  of  life. 


WHAT   IS   SPIRIT? 


THE  nature  of  matter  having  been  con- 
sidered, it  remains  to  inquire  as  regards 
the  nature  of  spirit.  In  pursuing  this  in- 
quiry we  grope  our  way  in  a  field  unillum- 
ined  by  the  lamp  of  science,  and  unaided 
by  investigators  whose  labors  are  worthy 
of  confidence.  Ecclesiastics  and  theolo- 
gians have  written  innumerable  treatises 
upon  spirit  or  soul,  but  we  read  them  for 
the  most  part  as  we  would  study  the  map 
of  a  new  country  on  which  are  traced  rivers 
with  hypothetical  sources  and  courses,  and 
mountain  ranges  without  statement  of  lati- 
tude, longitude,  or  altitude.  Such  teachers 
often  afford  painful  evidence  that  their 
claims  to  knowledge  are  not  based  on  re- 
search, but  are  rather  the  offspring  of  theo- 
logical bias  or  religious  emotion. 
78 


WHAT   IS    SPIRIT  ?  79 

The  greatest  and  best  man  that  ever 
appeared  upon  our  planet,  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth, often  alludes  to  spirit  in  his  teachings, 
as  recorded  by  his  followers,  but  he  has 
not  told  us  what  it  is.  He  was  able  to 
perform  many  extraordinary  acts,  some  of 
which  furnish  hints  as  regards  what  spirit 
must  be  in  order  that  the  conditions  of 
the  transaction  as  recorded  might  be  met. 
Luke  states  that  on  one  occasion,  after  the 
crucifixion,  his  disciples  were  gathered  in 
a  closed  room  at  Jerusalem,  and  the  Master 
suddenly  appeared  in  their  midst.  Whence 
he  came,  or  how  he  reached  his  place  in 
the  room,  no  one  knew. 

The  company  were  greatly  frightened  at 
the  apparition,  "  and  supposed  that  they 
had  seen  a  spirit."  He  did  not  calm  them 
by  stating  that  they  were  under  the  in- 
fluence of  superstitious  fears,  that  spirits 
were  imaginary  beings,  but  he  told  them 
"  that  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones  as 
ye  see  me  have."  This  negative  testimony 
to  the  actual  existence  of  unseen  spiritual 


8O  WHAT   IS   SPIRIT  ? 

forms  within  the  domain  of  the  terrestrial, 
must  have  great  significancy  to  those  who 
claim  a  supernatural  insight  for  the  great 
teacher.  The  legitimate  inference  from 
this,  and  other  statements  of  like  nature 
found  in  the  records  of  the  apostles,  is,  that 
there  were  spirits  or  ghosts  moving  about 
in  matter,  that  they  were  not  constituted 
of  matter,  they  did  not  have  "  flesh  and 
bones,"  as  the  Master  had  when  he  spake 
to  his  disciples.  It  is  probable  that  he 
wished  by  his  sudden  and  unaccountable 
appearance  among  them  to  make  manifest 
his  two  natures,  the  material  and  spiritual, 
and  also,  what  is  of  great  interest  and  im- 
portance, the  more  distinctive  nature  of 
spirit.  If,  as  seems  clear,  he  came  into  the 
assembly  by  passing  through  closed  doors, 
or  through  the  walls  of  the  building,  it 
would  serve  to  show  that  spirit  is  not  in  its 
movements  hindered  by  matter,  that  it 
does  not  act  in  obedience  to  laws  which 
govern  matter ;  and  further,  the  act  would 
show  that  the  Master  possessed  the  power 


WHAT    IS    SPIRIT-?  8 1 

of  putting  off  the  material  body  and  assum- 
ing it  again  instantaneously.  He  was  fond 
of  appearing  to  his  followers  in  sudden  or 
miraculous  ways,  as  in  the  instance  when 
he  appeared  to  the  two  on  the  way  to 
Emmaus.  In  this  instance  it  is  stated 
that  the  natural  sight  of  his  friends  was 
modified  so  that  they  should  not  know  him. 
The  historians  of  his  career  claim  for  him 
absolute  control  over  both  natures  of  man  : 
he  could  appear  or  disappear  at  will,  and 
in  his  last  act  "he  vanished  out  of  sight." 
Science  views  these  occult  proceedings  with 
distrust,  but  this  distrust  has  little  or  no 
influence  upon  the  millions  who  calmly 
rest  within  the  domain  of  the  Christian 
faith. 

Science  having  no  methods  by  which  it 
can  experimentally  determine  that  man  has 
a  spiritual  nature  distinct  from  the  material, 
it  follows  that  it  must  be  incompetent  to 
throw  light  upon  the  nature  of  that  which 
is  unrecognized  or  unknown.  It  is  certain 
that  man  dies  as  do  the  inferior  animals, 


82  WHAT    IS    SPIRIT? 

but  it  cannot  be  shown  that  anything  is  lost 
by  the  change.  The  body  may  cease  to 
live  when  inclosed  in  a  room  of  glass, 
which  forms  a  perfect  barrier  to  the  escape 
of  any  essence,  even  of  the  most  subtle 
nature,  and  the  principle  of  life  absent  from 
the  body  cannot  be  detected  in  the  impris- 
oned air  by  the  most  ingenious  methods  of 
testing.  The  delicate  balances  of  the 
chemist,  which  turn  with  a  weight  of  the 
hundredth  of  a  millegram,  cannot  show 
that  anything  is  lost  to  the  body.  But  it 
is  assumed  that  something  has  departed,  a 
something  which  has  left  no  void  in  the 
defunct  body,  and  which  is  of  such  ethereal 
nature  that  no  barriers  placed  in  its  way 
by  man  can  hold  it  for  a  single  instant. 
Inconceivable  as  is  the  ether  of  space,  in 
its  tenuity,  it  is  as  granite  in  comparison 
with  this  hypothetical  spiritual  ether,  this 
life  principle  of  man. 

No  fact  in  nature  is  more  distinctly 
clear  than  that  certain  exhalations  or  es- 
sences exist  which  are  as  incomprehensi- 


WHAT   IS   SPIRIT?  83 

ble  to  us  as  spirit.  It  is  interesting  to 
consider  some  subtle  powers  possessed  by 
animals  in  this  connection.  Quite  re- 
cently in  driving  an  intelligent  horse  into 
the  stable  yard,  I  was  surprised  at  the 
evidences  of  fear  exhibited  by  the  animal. 
He  looked  suspiciously  to  the  right  and 
left,  was  restive,  nervous,  and  almost  un- 
controllable. Nothing  could  be  seen  cal- 
culated to  excite  this  fear.  The  place  was 
familiar  to  him,  no  changes  had  been  made ; 
the  transaction  was  a  puzzle.  It  was  soon 
learned  that,  several  hours  before,  a  trav- 
eller, leading  a  large  bear,  came  into  the 
yard  and  remained  long  enough  to  obtain 
some  water.  A  few  years  before,  this 
horse  had  been  frightened  by  the  sudden 
appearance  of  a  bear  upon  the  highway, 
and  hence  a  clue  was  afforded  to  the  mys- 
tery. In  this  circumstance,  perhaps  no 
more  extraordinary  than  others,  we  have 
evidence  that  in  some  way,  through  some 
agent  or  avenue,  the  horse  learned  that  a 
dreaded  animal  had  been  in  the  vicinity ; 


84  "  WHAT    IS    SPIRIT  ? 

hence  its  fear.  Five  hours  had  elapsed 
since  the  animal  walked  into  the  yard,  and 
at  the  time  of  the  fright  of  the  horse  was 
several  miles  distant.  Through  what  sense 
was  this  knowledge  obtained  ?  Was  it  by 
the  sense  of  smell?  Was  it  by  some 
exalted  condition  of  the  sense  of  sight  ? 
Upon  these  points  we  have  no  knowledge. 
Outside  of  excrement  and  secretory  mat- 
ter, it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  the  na- 
ture of  any  material  exhalations  which  an 
animal  could  leave  in  a  roadway  capable  of 
being  detected  three  hours  after  the  ani- 
mal walked  over  it.  Human  thought,  or 
the  power  of  imagination  even,  cannot 
grasp  such  an  idea. 

A  dog  follows  the  track  of  his  master 
days  after  he  walked  across  a  field  01 
in  a  road.  Do  we  know  what  enduring 
principle  or  essence  is  left  in  his  course, 
which  enables  the  animal  to  follow  exactly 
in  his  footsteps  ?  The  dog,  in  tracing  the 
course  of  his  master,  puts  his  nose  to  the 
ground,  but  this  act  does  not  prove  that 


WHAT    IS    SPIRIT  ?  85 

he  is  using  the  olfactory  sense ;  he  would 
assume  this  position  if  he  was  employing 
the  sense  of  sight  or  taste.  If  we  assume 
that  the  dog  is  capable  of  employing  senses 
in  an  exalted  state,  that  hypothesis  does 
not  help  us  out  of  our  perplexities,  as  we 
can  form  no  idea  of  such  a  state  ;  indeed, 
we  do  not  know  that  any  of  the  external 
senses  of  the  animal  are  involved  in  the 
matter.  The  point  sought  to  be  estab- 
lished is  this :  if  we  have  brought  to  view 
striking  instances  illustrative  of  the  actual 
presence  in  animals  of  powers  transcend- 
ing human  comprehension,  why  is  it  diffi- 
cult to  conceive  of  a  principle  in  man 
capable  of  surviving  the  death  of  the  body  ; 
a  principle  which  can  leave  the  physical 
frame  and  rise  to  a  more  exalted  condi- 
tion, to  a  new  life? 

In  a  company  of  friends  distinguished 
in  the  walks  of  literature  and  science,  the 
question  was  asked,  if  it  is  possible  to  form 
any  satisfactory  conceptions  of  the  nature 
of  spirit  and  the  conditions  of  a  future  life 


86  WHAT   IS   SPIRIT? 

not  based  on  emotion  or  sentiment.  The 
reply  was,  that  it  is  possible.  In  dreams 
we  often  have  experiences  which  make 
clear  the  possibility  of  life  without  physi- 
cal activity.  It  once  appeared  to  the  au- 
thor in  a  dream  that  he  was  travelling  in 
France,  and  with  friends  had  rested  at  a 
small  inn.  A  thunder-storm  arose;  the 
thunder  reverberated  through  the  heavens, 
the  lightning  flashed,  the  pattering  rain- 
drops came  slowly  at  first,  and  finally  the 
storm  burst  in  all  its  fury.  Looking  out 
of  the  window,  it  was  observed  that  a 
company  of  travelling  minstrels  had  turned 
into  the  yard  and  sought  cover  under  a 
farm-wagon  at  hand.  The  water  ran  in 
the  streets,  the  trees  bent  to  the  force  of 
the  wind.  Soon  the  cloud  passed,  the  sun 
shone  in  the  west,  a  rainbow  appeared  in 
the  east ;  the  minstrels  came  out  of  their 
place  of  refuge,  and  played  upon  their  in- 
struments under  the  windows  of  the  inn. 
A  window  was  opened  and  a  sense  of  de- 
light experienced  at  the  scene  presented 


WHAT   IS   SPIRIT? 


to  view.  The  adjoining  fields  were  visited 
while  the  rain-drops  still  weighed  down  the 
green  grass,  and  the  light  was  reflected 
from  the  leaves  of  beautiful  shrubs.  Flow- 
ers and  minerals  were  collected,  and  on 
returning  to  the  hotel  tea  was  provided. 
Thus  were  presented  some  of  the  incidents 
of  an  actual  dream,  and  the  inquiry  was 
raised,  if  this  dream  could  continue  with 
its  shifting  scenes  during  the  ordinary  pe- 
riod of  human  existence,  or  throughout 
eternity,  would  it  not  be  equivalent  to  ac- 
tual life,  or  would  it  not  be  positive  exist- 
ence ?  The  body  was  passive  in  bed,  and 
took  no  part  in  this  form  of  life  ;  the  spirit 
was  awake  and  did  not  need  the  body. 
How  much  more  actual  or  real  is  this 
earthly  existence  than  the  incidents  of  a 
dream  ?  A  dream  often  presents  all  life's 
correspondences  :  it  affords  us  joy,  sorrow, 
pleasure,  remorse  ;  it  gives  keen  partici- 
pation in  all  the  changes  and  events  in 
nature;  it  places  us  in  company  with 
friends  ;  all  the  phenomena  of  storms  are 


88  WHAT    IS    SPIRIT  ? 

observed  :  thunder,  lightning,  rain,  wind, 
and  the  rainbow ;  music  delights  us,  and 
so  do  flowers ;  we  travel,  eat,  drink,  con- 
verse. What  more  does  physical  life  pre- 
sent ?  Who  has  not  awoke  from  a  pleasant 
dream  with  regret? 

The  questions  of  the  nature,  cause,  or 
philosophy  of  dreams  have  nothing  to  do 
with  this  discussion ;  the  sole  object  is  to 
show  how  it  is  possible  for  us  to  conceive 
of  a  life  independent  of  the  body.  With 
the  body  practically  dead,  we  go  over  life's 
experiences  with  zest,  and  live  in  a  world 
to  which  the  mind  or  spirit  can  alone  gain 
access.  It  can  hardly  be  necessary  to  re- 
mark at  this  point  that  views  of  the  life 
hereafter  do  not  lead  us  to  regard  it  as  of 
the  nature  of  a  dream. 

Spirit,  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  materialist,  is  but  a  mode  of  motion,  a 
force  correlated  with  the  physical  forces; 
it  springs  from  the  peculiar  juxtaposition 
and  motion  of  molecules  of  matter  in  the 
physical  organism.  This  view  can  have 


WHAT    IS    SPIRIT?  89 

no  substantial  basis  to  rest  upon,  but  it 
may  be  well  to  present  an  outline  of  the 
theories  adopted  by  some  of  the  best  think- 
ers in  the  ranks  of  materialists. 

Science  has  demonstrated  that  all  effects 
produced  in  nature  result  from  motion. 
Everything  is  in  motion,  —  sun,  moon, 
planets,  stars,  earth,  and  so  on,  down  to 
molecules  and  atoms.  Light,  heat,  elec- 
tricity, chemical  action,  are  but  modes  of 
motion.  It  is  assumed  that  there  is  an 
exceedingly  rare  medium  pervading  all 
space,  called  "  ether,"  and  that  it  occupies 
the  interstices  between  molecules  and 
atoms.  The  ether  is  put  in  motion  from 
various  causes,  and  gives  rise  to  undula- 
tions or  waves ;  these  undulations  act 
upon  the  various  organs  of  sense,  and  are 
transmitted  to  the  brain,  and  the  various 
sensations  are  produced.  How  they  are 
transmitted  no  one  knows.  The  ear  is  the 
only  one  of  the  organs  of  sense  affected 
by  aerial  vibrations.  Hearing  results  from 
mass  vibrations  upon  the  air ;  seeing,  from 


9O  WHAT    IS   SPIRIT? 

molecular  vibrations  in  ether.  The  num- 
ber of  vibrations  entering  the  eye  in  a 
given  time  produces  all  the  wonderful 
modifications  of  sight. 

It  has  been  found,  for  example,  by  ex- 
periments upon  soap  bubbles,  that  to  cause 
the  sensation  we  call  red,  over  four  hundred 
trillions  of  waves  of  ether  must  enter  the 
eye  in  one  second.  Then,  as  the  numbers 
increase,  the  impression  experienced  by  the 
eye  varies  through  all  the  colors  of  the 
rainbow,  until  about  seven  hundred  trillions 
are  reached.  A  greater  undulatory  move- 
ment than  seven  hundred  trillions  per 
second  results  in  darkness;  the  sense  of 
sight  ceases.  But  it  is  assumed  that  this 
rate  is  exceeded,  that  the  vibrations  go  be- 
yond the  highest  extreme  of  impressions 
producing  light ;  and  here  some  philos- 
ophers suppose  that  we  reach  the  boundary 
between  matter  and  mind.  It  is  claimed 
that  certain  rates  of  undulations  of  incon- 
ceivable rapidity  give  rise  to  thought,  life, 
spirit.  It  is  therefore  by  molecular  and 


WHAT   IS    SPIRIT? 


ether  undulations  that  the  sensations  of 
sight,  hearing,  smell,  taste,  and  touch  are 
produced,  and  by  extraordinary  velocity  of 
wave  motion  spirit  is  awakened 

This  materialism  is  not  of  a  vulgar  kind, 
but  claims  to  be  based  on  inductive  philos- 
ophy. Another  view,  or  a  modification  of 
the  above,  it  may  be  worth  while  to  en- 
deavor to  present  as  pointing  out  the  origin 
of  spirit  from  the  standpoint  of  the  materi- 
alist. It  is  assumed  that  after  the  lapse 
of  vast  cosmic  periods  in  the  history  of 
the  universe,  when  matter  had  condensed 
into  celestial  spheres  and  partially  cooled, 
the  most  rigid  analysis,  based  on  physics 
as  at  present  understood,  could  not  detect 
the  traces  of  any  modes  of  force  but 
gravity,  motion,  heat,  chemical  action, 
electricity,  magnetism,  and  light.  Mole- 
cular action  on  all  spheres  was  intense, 
chemical  change  wrought  with  vast  power  ; 
but  in  time  the  naked  elements  became 
locked  up  in  compounds,  affinity  and  heat 
waned,  upheavals  ceased,  and  the  forces, 


92  WHAT    IS    SPIRIT  ? 

all  but  gravity,  merged  towards  a  Sunday 
of  rest.  At  this  period,  after  air  and 
water  had  formed,  and  the  jarring  elements 
had  become  comparatively  quiet,  two  refined 
and  inscrutable  modes  of  motion,  life  and 
mind,  were  developed  by  evolution  from  in- 
o.rganic  atoms.  It  is  assumed  that  before 
nature  could  evolve  life  and  mind  all  cos- 
mical  agitation  must  nearly  stop,  and  such 
was  the  period  when  man  appeared.  It  is 
further  assumed  that  mind  was  developed 
by  matter  only  in  a  mature  state.  Before 
the  atoms  coalesced  to  form  mind,  the  most 
refined  property  in  the  universe,  material 
structure  itself  was  most  complex.  Mind 
is  too  refined  a  mode  of  motion  to  continue 
long  on  cosmic  spheres ;  it  does  not  ap- 
pear until  they  are  verging  towards  their 
dotage.  Thought  cannot  exist  in  the 
presence  of  undue  heat ;  hence  it  does 
not  appear  until  polar  frigidity  has  set  in  ; 
and  its  duration  is  short,  as  approaching 
cold  vvill  disintegrate  complex  atoms,  arrest 
the  refined  modes  of  motion  called  mind, 
and  chaos  again  ensues. 


WHAT   IS   SPIRIT  ?  93 

These  views  of  the  nature  and  origin  of 
spirit  are  held  by  a  large  number  of  stu- 
dents in  science,  —  men  of  acute  minds  and 
great  acquirements.  It  may  be  assumed 
that  matter  exists  as  masses,  molecules, 
atoms,  and  ether,  and  that  there  is 
constant  motion ;  this  is  demonstrable. 
Whilst  it  is  possible  that  molecular  motion 
may  be  accessory  of  thought,  it  does  not 
originate  mind  or  spirit.  It  does  not  pro- 
duce sight  without  a  principle  within ,  back 
of  the  lenses  of  the  eye ;  it  does  not  pro- 
duce taste  independent  of  a  principle  back 
of  the  tongue;  neither  does  it  cause  the 
sensation  of  smell.  The  principle  lying 
back,  so  to  speak,  of  the  organs  of  sense, 
which  is  brought  into  activity  by  molecular 
motion,  is  spirit,  and  this  must  be  an 
eternal  principle,  specially  conferred  by  an 
Infinite  Mind. 

It  is  an  axiom  never  to  be  forgotten, 
that,  in  the  stupendous  changes  and  trans- 
formations observed  in  the  universe  of 
matter,  nothing  is  ever  destroyed.  This  is 


94  WHAT   IS    SPIRIT? 

an  inexorable  law.  Energy,  an  immaterial 
essence,  as  immaterial  as  spirit,  is  inde- 
structible, is  never  lost,  never  thrust  out  of 
the  universe.  It  is  reasonable  to  infer  that 
the  mind  principle  is  incapable  of  being 
lost  or  destroyed  ;  if  it  is  but  a  "  mode  of 
motion  "  it  must  vibrate  to  all  eternity. 

There  is  some  ground  for  supposing 
that  indestructibility  pertains  to  the  germ- 
inal principle  of  seeds.  It  is  exceedingly 
difficult  to  account  for  observed  phenom- 
ena without  adopting  the  view.  The  inde- 
structible principle  is  independent  of  the 
physical  seed,  which  decays,  or  is  changed 
by  the  usual  agents  of  change  in  nature. 
The  germ  or  life  of  a  seed  cannot  be 
seen,  measured,  or  weighed,  and  the  same 
is  true  of  the  embryo  principle  of  an 
egg,  and  we  know  nothing  of  what  it  is. 
It  is  easy  to  arrest  development  in  seed 
and  egg,  but  we  do  not  know  that  we 
destroy  the  life-motion  by  anything  that 
we  can  do. 

It    is   probable   that  the  life  principle 


WHAT    IS   SPIRIT?  95 

in  animals  is,  like  energy,  indestructible ; 
motion  ceases,  but  it  may  be  changed  into 
new  forms,  or  act  under  new  conditions, 
which  stimulate  the  life  when  in  contact 
with  organized  matter.  Animals  are  de- 
clared to  possess  instinct,  and  instinct  has 
been  defined  to  be  an  unconscious  mode 
of  intelligence.  As  to  the  nature  of  in- 
stinct, it  is  asserted  to  be  habits  fixed  by 
heredity ;  but  this  view  is  strange  and  im- 
probable. The  study  of  the  mental  capa- 
bilities of  animals,  especially  domestic  ani- 
mals, those  connected  with  the  household 
and  farm,  renders  this  hypothesis  quite 
unsatisfactory.  It  is  not  true  that  instinct 
results  from,  or  is  fixed  by,  organization ; 
for  in  many  animals  of  like  organization, 
instinct  in  its  scope  and  capacity  varies  in 
an  astonishing  degree.  The  intelligence 
of  the  horse  or  dog  ki  some  instances  is 
of  a  very  low  order,  in  others  it  is  start- 
ling in  its  scope,  and  closely  approximates 
to  reason  in  man. 

A  horse,  long  in  use  in  my  family,  fre- 


96  WHAT   IS   SPIRIT? 

quently  gave  evidence  of  the  possession 
of  mental  faculties  of  a  startling  nature. 
At  one  time  it  became  necessary  that  the 
animal  should  be  fed  quite  early  in  the 
morning,  in  order  that  he  might  be  used 
for  special  service.  It  was  the  duty  of 
the  coachman  to  come  early  to  the  stable, 
feed  him,  and  then  go  to  his  own  break- 
fast. Upon  returning  to  the  stable  he 
found  for  several  mornings  that  the  horse 
had  not  consumed  his  provender,  and  he 
was  allowed  more  time  to  complete  the 
meal.  It  was  observed  that  this  show  of 
slow  eating  became  a  habit,  and  the  coach- 
man, without  going  into  the  stall  to  exam- 
ine his  food,  allowed  him  a  respite  from 
work  of  twenty  or  thirty  minutes  each 
morning.  To  break  up  the  habit,  the 
coachman  was  directed  to  put  the  ani- 
mal in  harness  as  soon  as  he  returned 
to  the  stable,  without  regarding  the  un- 
finished meal.  It  was  then  disclosed  that 
the  feed-box  was  empty,  and  had  been 
so  at  the  times  the  horse  was  wanted. 


WHAT    IS    SPIRIT?  97 

The  animal  had  carried  on  a  deliberate 
scheme  of  deception  for  several  weeks,  by 
plunging  his  nose  into  the  empty  feed- 
box  and  moving  his  jaws  as  if  masticating 
grain,  when  there  was  none  to  masticate. 
By  this  trick  the  horse  gained  a  short 
respite  from  work  each  morning.  It  is  dif- 
ficult to  point  out  distinctions  between  in- 
stinct and  reason  in  this  act  of  an  animal. 
A  large  dog  kept  at  my  farm  had  been 
in  the  habit  of  coming  into  the  farm 
kitchen  for  a  breakfast  of  milk.  This 
became  a  little  annoying  to  the  farmer's 
wife,  and  one  morning  she  said  to  him, 
in  a  raised  tone  of  voice,  "Bruno,  you 
shall  have  no  more  milk ;  go  away,  and 
don't  you  come  back  here  again  ! "  The 
dog  looked  at  his  mistress  for  a  moment, 
and  then  turned  about,  went  out  of  the 
door,  down  the  walk  to  the  street,  and 
disappeared.  Nothing  more  was  seen  of 
him  for  a  week,  when  the  farmer,  while 
in  a  distant  field,  heard  a  low  moaning 
sound  in  bushes  by  a  wall,  and  upon  inves- 


98  WHAT    IS    SPIRIT? 

tigation,  Bruno  was  discovered  stretched 
upon  the  ground  in  a  starving  condition. 
The  dog  was  coaxed  to  return  to  the 
house,  where  he  was  fed,  but  it  was  sev- 
eral days  before  his  wounded  spirit  was 
healed  and  confidence  restored.  Unques- 
tionably, the  dog  would  have  committed 
suicide  by  starvation  if  he  had  not  been 
discovered,  and  the  cause  of  the  act  would 
have  been  grief  from  displeasure  of  his 
mistress. 

A  belief  is  quite  common  among  dog- 
fanciers  that  the  animal  understands  the 
import  of  language  when  directly  spoken 
to,  and  this  incident  is  corroborative  of 
the  correctness  of  the  view. 

From  the  fact  that  we  know  nothing  of 
instinct  from  experience,  and  can  only 
form  conjectures,  it  is  evident  that  no 
satisfactory  and  reliable  explanation  of 
its  nature  and  extent  will  ever  be  afforded. 
Instinct  is  like  mind,  but  it  is  not  the 
whole  of  mind.  In  studying  the  nature 
of  mind  it  is  impossible  for  any  competent 


WHAT   IS   SPIRIT?  99 

student  to  overlook  or  deny  the  suggest- 
iveness  or  correspondences  when  matter 
and  mind  are  brought  in  contact. 

In  the  study  of  matter  we  find  there 
is  a  class  of  substances,  most  of  them  of 
great  complexity  and  highly  organized, 
which  are  distinguished  as  isomeric  bodies ; 
that  is,  bodies,  which,  although  similarly 
constituted,  are  very  dissimilar  in  their 
physical  characteristics.  We  find  some 
most  remarkable  instances  of  isomerism  in 
the  common  substances  of  everyday  life. 
A  notable  example  is  afforded  in  the 
ordinary  illuminating  gas  of  cities,  the 
chemical  constitution  of  which  is  pre- 
cisely like  the  oil  or  attar  of  roses.  In 
the  one  case  we  have  an  invisible  gaseous 
body  of  exceedingly  offensive  odor,  made 
up  of  molecules  of  matter  the  same  in 
nature  and  quantity  as  enters  into  the 
constitution  of  a  volatile  oil,  with  an  odor 
the  most  enticing  and  gratifying  of  any 
known  to  man.  In  the  sugars  which  enter 
so  largely  into  many  forms  of  food,  we 


IOO  WHAT   IS   SPIRIT? 

find    examples    of    isomerism   which   are 
very  wonderful  and  wholly  inexplicable. 

The  question  arises,  why  may  there  not 
be  isomerism  in  mind  as  well  as  in  matter  ? 
Assuming  that  mind,  soul,  or  spirit  is  a 
like  principle  in  men  and  animals,  it  is 
as  easy  to  understand  how  an  infinite 
variety  of  modifications  may  exist,  as  it 
is  to  understand  how  physical  dissimilar- 
ities exist  in  forms  of  matter  of  like 
nature.  It  should  not  be  regarded  as 
absurd  to  assume  that  the  mind  principle 
throughout  animated  nature  is  similar  in 
kind,  but  acting  under  and  controlled  by 
different  laws  which  greatly  modify  its 
capabilities.  The  soul,  mind,  or  spirit  in 
some  domestic  animals  is  manifestly  of 
a  higher  order  in  many  of  its  phases 
than  that  which  often  controls  human 
beings,  even  those  living  in  civilized 
society.  The  affections  and  emotions  of 
sorrow  are  often  displayed  by  animals, 
while  human  beings  are  found  in  whom 
the  kindly  emotions  are  absolutely  want- 


WHAT    IS    SPIRIT?  IOI 

ing.  But  this  by  no  means  places  animals 
on  a  plane  as  high  as  that  of  man.  It  is 
not  a  question  of  superiority  in  any  indi- 
vidual faculty,  but  of  scope  or  extent  of 
mind  power.  The  scope  of  this  power  in 
man  reaches  high  enough,  even  in  the 
most  degraded,  to  affect  his  responsibility ; 
in  the  highest  of  animals  it  does  not. 
While  it  may  be  true  that  the  spirit  of 
men  and  animals  is  the  same  in  kind, 
the  difference  in  scope  is  so  enormous  as 
to  present  entirely  dissimilar  ends  and 
responsibilities.  The  inquiry  as  to  the 
continuance  of  animal  life  after  death  is 
overshadowed  by  a  cloud  so  profoundly 
dark  one  cannot  take  a  single  step  over 
the  border-line  into  this  field  of  research. 
If  it  was  known  that  the  mind  principle 
of  animals  is  absolutely  arrested  by  physi- 
cal death,  and  with  the  body  becomes 
extinct,  the  fact  might  be  regarded  as 
affording  ground  for  belief  that  human 
souls,  those  base  and  low,  are  sunk  in 
annihilation.  In  some  domestic  animals 


IO2  WHAT   IS    SPIRIT? 

we  have  exhibitions  of  natural  gentleness 
and  love,  faithfulness  and  sagacity,  which 
so  endear  them  to  us  that  when  death 
ensues  the  tears  involuntarily  flow,  and 
genuine  sorrow  oppresses  the  spirit.  We 
place  in  contrast  such  animals  with  men 
of  low,  degraded  purpose  —  cruel,  treacher- 
ous, false,  sensual ;  and  to  which  must  we 
assign  the  higher  place  in  any  system 
which  recognizes  justice  and  the  fitness 
of  things  ?  If  eternal  darkness  is  to  en- 
shroud the  mind  principle,  when  it  is 
unfit  to  survive  the  decay  of  the  body, 
which  should  be  blotted  out,  the  man  or 
the  animal  ? 

Spirit  is  as  nothing  when  considered 
by  any  or  the  outward  senses,  but  the 
inward  or  spiritual  sight  recognizes  its 
kind,  and  views  it  as  the  natural  eye 
views  external  objects.  That  mysterious 
inward  sense  of  sight  which  enables  some 
peculiarly  constituted  persons  to  state 
correctly  the  time  by  a  set  watch  when 
the  dial  is  covered  by  metal  and  the 


WHAT   IS   SPIRIT?  IO3 

watch  placed  in  a  remote  part  of  a  room ; 
or  which  enables  them  correctly  to  read 
printed  matter  or  ^manuscripts  long  dis- 
tances away,  penetrates  outside  the  ma- 
terial universe.  By  this  miracle  of  sight 
they  look  through  forms  of  matter  which 
arrest  the  light  rays,  and  discern  the 
spirit  form  with  the  utmost  clearness 
of  outline.  It  is  not  one  or  a  dozen 
individuals  upon  whom  rests  the  testi- 
mony supporting  such  statements,  but 
upon  hundreds  in  almost  every  habitable 
land.  Neither  does  the  testimony  rest 
upon  the  weak,  the  uneducated,  the  super- 
stitious, but  upon  those  of  the  highest 
character  and  culture,  the  honored  and 
the  trusted,  those  who  adorn  life  in  all  its 
social,  religious,  and  intellectual  aspects. 

From  careful  researches,  extending  over 
a  period  of  more  than,  a  third  of  a  century, 
I  am  led  to  conclude  that  that  rigidity  of 
mind  which  resists  the  evidence  of  the 
existence  in  man,  under  peculiar  conditions, 
of  super-sensual  faculties,  should  not  be 


IO4  WHAT    IS    SPIRIT? 

mistaken  for  a  higher  wisdom  in  which  one 
may  confide,  but  it  should  rather  be  re- 
garded as  of  the  nature  of  arrogance  born 
of  conceit,  and  therefore  not  authoritative. 
Views  of  the  nature  of  spirit,  formed 
from  experiment  upon  the  super-sensual 
capabilities  of  man,  may  be  stated  to  be, 
that  spirit  is  entity,  a  something  as  real  as 
matter,  but  not  acting  under  or  governed 
by  its  laws.  It  belongs  to  a  spiritual 
domain  not  recognized  by  the  ordinary 
senses  under  ordinary  conditions  of  life. 
It  is  real,  capable  of  assuming  form,  and 
performing  functions  corresponding  with 
those  which  are  necessary  for  man  in  his 
material  environment.  It  is  that  part  of 
us  which  is  indestructible,  and  which  is  to 
bring  us  into  connection  with  a  spiritual 
world  when  the  movements  of  the  mole- 
cules of  matter  composing  our  physical 
forms  are  arrested.  Death  brings  spirit  to 
view,  and  gives  it  that  higher  position  for 
which  it  was  designed  by  a  Supreme 
Creator. 


THE   RELIGIOUS   MAN. 


IT  is  claimed  that  man  is  a  religious 
being  by  intuition,  and  that  no  tribes  or 
races  of  men  have  existed  who  had  not 
some  form  of  religious  belief,  some  method 
of  worshipping  either  idols,  devils,  or  gods. 
This,  presented  as  a  postulate,  cannot  be 
admitted,  as  it  is  well  known  that  races 
have  existed,  in  fact  do  now  exist,  who  are 
so  degraded  as  to  be  apparently  incapable 
of  cherishing  ideas  or  emotions  which  are 
in  any  sense  religious.  Some  of  the  bush 
Indians  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  the  low, 
savage  tribes  living  on  the  shores  of  Ma- 
gellan's Straits,  have  no  ideas  of  any  supe- 
rior being  or  beings  who  are  objects  of 
love  or  fear.  They  do  not  worship  idols 
or  anything  in  nature  ;  they  have  no  moral 
sense,  no  conceptions  of  right  or  wrong. 


IO6  THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN. 

Still,  it  must  be  admitted  that  religion  is 
a  well-nigh  universal  principle  or  senti- 
ment in  human  nature ;  and  that  this 
element  constitutes  a  palpable  line  of  dis- 
tinction between  man  and  animals.  In 
man,  where  the  religious  nature  is  highly 
developed,  it  dominates  all  other  impulses 
of  his  being,  rises  superior  to  all  sensual 
passions,  and  impels  him  in  directions  of 
peril  and  suffering.  Religion  may  degrade 
or  elevate,  as  its  standard  is  high  or  low ; 
it  may  be  based  on  the  grossest  ignorance 
and  superstitions,  or  on  the  highest  plane 
of  thought  capable  of  being  reached  by 
man. 

In  the  earliest  stages  of  man's  existence 
the  event  of  death  must  have  been  more 
startling  and  mysterious  than  any  other, 
and  hence  it  was  more  potent  in  turning 
the  feeble  and  perverted  mind  in  the  direc- 
tion of  discovering  some  hidden  power  or 
influence  superior  to  that  of  man.  To 
savage  man  in  a  primitive  age  the  life 
problem  had  no  interest,  his  curiosity  could 


THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN.  IO/ 

hardly  have  been  excited  upon  the  question 
of  his  origin,  or  the  mystery  of  life;  but 
death  was  an  ever-present  and  terrible  fact, 
and  would  to  the  crudest  minds  open  up 
some  misty  ill-defined  expectations  of  an- 
other state  of  existence,  somehow,  some- 
where. 

The  first  influence  would  be  that  of  fear, 
and  hence  the  early  tribal  religions,  and 
those  of  savage  nations  at  the  present  day 
fill  the  imagination  with  vivid  pictures  of 
demons,  goblins,  and  monsters,  who  hold 
control  in  the  unseen  state,  and  influence 
largely  the  present  Me. 

Hope,  love,  joy,  are  emotions  almost 
unknown  in  a  savage  and  ignorant  state 
of  society ;  even  the  religion  of  the  early 
Hebrews  is  based  on  the  emotion  of  fear ; 
and  Satan,  a  diabolical  personage,  is  repre- 
sented as  having  almost  equal  power  with 
the  great  Jehovah.  A  careful  considera- 
tion of  the  different  forms  of  religion 
which  have  existed,  and  which  now  exist, 
leads  to  the  conclusion  that  some  ideal  of 


IO8  THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN 

evil,  some  Satan  or  devil,  was  necessary  to 
any  religious  system  in  order  to  hold  man- 
kind to  its  obligations.  The  element  of 
fear  dominates  over  that  of  love,  even  in 
modern  society,  and  when  men  are  placed 
out  of  control  of  it  they  go  astray.  As 
education  advances,  and  mankind  are  more 
enlightened,  and  the  facts  of  science  be- 
come better  known,  fear  will  gradually  lose 
its  control,  and  higher  and  better  impulses 
assume  precedence.  Religion  will  no 
longer  need  the  bolstering  aid  of  Satan, 
and  he  will  be  gradually  eliminated  from 
the  Christian  faith. 

The  dominating  religions  of  the  world, 
as  presented  in  the  history  of  the  past 
thirty  centuries,  are  found  to  prevail  in 
southern  and  eastern  Asia,  where  man 
earliest  attained  to  a  condition  of  social 
order,  and  adopted  forms  of  government 
which  in  some  respects  continue  to  exist. 
About  twenty-four  hundred  years  ago  a 
remarkable  man  appeared  in  India,  who 
promulgated  a  religion  which  proved  to  be 


THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN.  I(X) 

the  most  popular  and  effective  of  any  ever 
advocated  by  man.  Buddha,  single-handed 
and  alone,  established  a  religion  which,  in 
two  hundred  years  from  the  time  of  his 
death,  became  recognized  as  the  faith  of 
the  largest  part  of  the  population  of  the 
world ;  and  it  is  indeed  a  remarkable  fact 
that,  at  the  present  time,  Buddhism  is  the 
religion  of  about  one-third  of  all  the  inhabit- 
ants existing  upon  our  planet.  A  religion 
which  controls  the  lives  of  five  hundred 
millions  of  the  human  race  is  exceedingly 
interesting  to  the  philosophical  inquirer. 
If  it  is  assumed  that  man  accepts  that  form 
of  religion  which  is  best  suited  to  his 
nature  and  wants,  then  Buddhism  is  phe- 
nomenally perfect  in  its  adaptations  ;  but 
if  we  look  into  the  system  the  fact  appears 
that  there  is  but  very  little  to  commend  it 
to  the  desires  or  wants  of  any  human 
being. 

It  seems  natural  that  selfish  man  would 
desire  a  religion  which  offers  some  great 
good  in  the  present  or  future  state  of  ex- 


IIO  THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN. 

istence,  a  religion  that  holds  out  some 
hope  to  miserable  mortals,  suffering  and 
oppressed  in  this  life,  of  a  better  condition 
hereafter;  but  the  faith  of  Buddha  offers 
no  such  consolations.  In  the  language  of 
another,  "  It  is  a  religion  which  teaches  as 
one  of  its  cardinal  doctrines  that  existence 
is  wretchedness,  and  the  love  of  it  a  feel- 
ing to  be  suppressed  and  exterminated ; 
that  the  highest  happiness  attainable  on 
earth  is  in  the  extinction  of  all  natural 
desires  and  affections,  and  the  only  heaven 
beyond  is  utter  and  final  annihilation." 
This  view  is  denied  by  some  writers,  but 
it  is  essentially  correct.  A  religion  of  this 
nature  is  certainly  cheerless  and  unattrac- 
tive, and  pessimism  can  go  no  farther  in 
its  most  gloomy  anticipations.  One  desir- 
able end  of  any  religion  would  seem  to 
be  to  cheer  and  sustain  the  spirit  in  the 
dark  hour  of  dissolution ;  but  the  religion 
of  Buddha  is  not  well  adapted  to  give  eu- 
thanasia to  any  of  its  adherents.  It  may, 
however,  be  that  the  strength  of  this  sys- 


THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN.  Ill 

tern  lies  in  that  feature  which  some  would 
regard  as  most  repulsive,  namely,  that  of 
annihilation.  It  must  be  admitted  that 
this  doctrine  is  a  welcome  one  to  a  very 
large  class  of  men  in  civilized  as  well  as  in 
semi-civilized  communities,  and  any  sup- 
port which  it  receives  from  philosophy, 
science,  or  religion  is  welcomed  with  the 
highest  satisfaction. 

The  religion  of  Confucius  differs  from 
that  of  Buddha  in  many  essential  points. 
While  the  latter  held  that  this  earthly  ex- 
istence is  so  bad  that  the  only  happiness 
for  man  is  in  death  or  annihilation,  the 
former  held  that  the  present  world,  as  he 
knew  of  it  in  China,  is  the  best  possible 
world,  and  one  to  be  enjoyed  and  made 
the  most  of.  He  taught  a  morality  which 
tended  to  strengthen  and  sustain  man  in 
his  temporal  pursuits.  His  religion  was 
to  a  large  extent  elevating,  and  tended  to 
make  mankind  better. 

When  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  on  earth, 
an  inquirer  approached  him  with  the  ques- 


IT2  THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN. 

tion,  "  Sir,  what  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  " 
The  same  question  Confucius  endeavored 
to  answer  in  the  hearing  of  his  speculative 
countrymen,  although  no  one  made -request 
for  him  to  do  so.  His  answer  was  that 
the  key  to  the  door  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  duty,  and  that  happiness  con- 
sists in  duties  well  and  faithfully  performed. 
"  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother"  was  a 
command  he  most  rigidly  inculcated,  and 
his  moral  precepts  for  the  most  part  are 
of  an  elevated  nature.  The  Chinese  en- 
tertained as  narrow  views  of  the  world  at 
the  time  of  the  advent  of  Confucius  as  they 
do  at  the  present.  To  them  there  was  no 
world  outside  of  the  great  empire,  and  they 
conceived  that  heaven  was  within  il^s  bound- 
aries. They  were  monotheistic  in  their 
beliefs,  but  had  very  confused  ideas  of  a 
future  life.  Into  the  mists  and  darkness 
which  prevailed  Confucius  projected  new 
and  higher  truths.  "What  you  call  reli- 
gion," he  said,  "  is  in  reality  but  an  exer- 
cise of  the  imagination :  it  may  represent 


THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN. 


a  truth  or  it  may  not,  —  we  cannot  tell  ; 
but  morality,  the  doing  of  that  which  is 
right,  the  performance  of  the  plain  and 
practical  duties  of  the  day  and  hour,  —  this 
is  the  road  open  to  every  man,  and  which 
will  lead  every  man  that  follows  it  to  the 
highest  goal."  Confucius  may  be  said  to 
have  been  the  founder  of  a  religion  with- 
out a  theology,  without  a  form  of  worship, 
without  a  ritual. 

Mohammed,  the  founder  of  the  Islam 
faith,  devised  a  religion  for  man  which  has 
proved  successful  ;  and  he  must  be  classed 
among  the  few  who  have  influenced  the 
destiny  of  the  world  and  produced  revolu- 
tions, the  effects  of  which  will  last  through 
all  the  ages.  More  than  twelve  centuries 
have  elapsed  since  his  death,  and  litera- 
ture, philosophy,  and  science  have  elevated 
the  race  to  almost  the  highest  attainable 
point,  but  his  religion  remains.  It  had  its 
birth  in  a  barbarous  age,  but  it  survives 
and  flourishes  in  the  bright  light  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  At  the  present  time 


114  THE   RELIGIOUS   MAN. 

more  than  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
millions  of  the  human  race  turn  their  faces 
towards  Mecca  five  times  a  day,  and  call 
upon  the  name  of  the  great  prophet.  This 
religious  system  of  Mohammed  is  remark- 
able, studied  from  whatever  point  we 
choose.  Dr.  Johnson,  in  speaking  of  the 
religions  of  the  world,  said  there  were  two 
objects  of  curiosity,  "the  Christian  world 
and  the  Mohammedan  world ;  all  the  rest 
may  be  considered  as  barbarous." 

Great  Britain,  one  of  the  most  advanced 
of  modern  nations,  has  more  Mohammedan 
subjects  than  Christian  ;  her  government 
extends  over  more  of  the  followers  of 
"false"  prophets  than  over  those  of  Jesus. 

Islamism  in  some  of  its  aspects  is  strik- 
ingly like  Mormonism.  "We  believe,"  said 
Mohammed,  "in  God,  in  what  hath  been 
sent  down  to  Abraham,  and  Ishmael,  and 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  the  tribes,  and  in 
what  was  given  to  Moses,  and  Jesus,  and 
the  prophets  of  the  Lord."  The  Mormons 
profess  to  believe  all  of  this,  but  there  is 


THE   RELIGIOUS    MAN. 


one  thing  more  which  they  believe,  and  to 
which  they  attach  superlative  importance. 
They  believe  that  they  have  in  the  Book  of 
Mormon  a  lost  revelation,  a  book  which 
should  be  appended  to  the  canonical  books 
of  the  Old  Testament,  and  be  regarded  as 
of  equal  authority.  They  also  believe  that 
they  have  had  a  "  true  "  prophet  in  Joseph 
Smith,  who  was  competent  to  interpret 
the  Book  of  Mormon,  and  set  forth  its 
doctrines.  The  disciples  of  Mohammed 
believe  they  have  an  authoritative  prophet, 
and  that  the  Koran  is  the  final  chapter  in 
a  long  series  of  revelations.  The  prophet 
of  Mecca  and  the  prophet  of  Nauvoo  alike 
recognized  the  sacredness  of  the  biblical 
records,  but  they  proposed  additions  and 
amendments,  and  some  new  interpretations 
which  give  to  them  a  wider  scope  and  a 
changed  meaning.  Both  of  these  prophets 
have  met  with  astonishing  success  in  gain- 
ing zealous  adherents,  and  their  distinctive 
careers  furnish  fruitful  topics  of  study  to 
theologians,  historians,  metaphysicians,  and 
philosophers. 


Il6  THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN. 

The  world  has  had  many  prophets, 
"  false "  prophets,  who  have  met  with 
greater  or  less  success  in  the  work  of  in- 
troducing new  forms  of  religious  faith. 
The  histories  of  these  men,  regarded  as 
authoritative,  have  been  written  by  their 
enemies,  and  therefore  must  be  viewed  with 
reasonable  suspicion.  As  a  class  they  ap- 
pear to  have  been  thoughtful  men,  moody, 
nervous,  sensitive,  fond  of  solitary  contem- 
plation, not  in  sound  physical  health,  in- 
clined to  day-dreams,  trances,  and  silence. 
They  have  not  all  started  out  with  the 
design  of  deceiving  mankind  upon  matters 
of  momentous  interest,  but  their  doctrines 
have  been  the  legitimate  offspring  of  per- 
verted mental  processes  and  diseased 
imaginations.  They  have  not  all  been 
vagabonds  ;  dishonest,  untruthful,  ignorant, 
treacherous.  The  great  prophet  of  the 
Islam  faith  was  distinguished  in  early  life 
for  uprightness  of  character,  probity,  and 
courteous  demeanor.  His  scrupulous  hon- 
esty brought  him  the  title,  El  Amin,  the 


THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN.  I  \"J 

Trusty,  a  high  compliment  to  an  Arab 
youth  in  a  barbarous  age.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  regard  these  prophets  with  special 
reverence,  but  they  are  entitled  to  fair 
treatment  at  the  hands  of  historians,  and 
the  unbiased  judgment  of  scholars  and 
critics. 

The  brief  allusion  made  to  three  dis- 
tinctive forms  of  faith  bring  to  view  the 
dominating  religions  of  the  world.  In 
Buddha,  Confucius,  Mohammed,  we  have 
the  founders  of  three  systems  of  religion, 
the  tenets  of  which  have  influenced  the 
lives  of  thousands  of  millions  of  human 
beings,  and  which  to-day  are  the  rule  of 
faith  of  two-thirds  of  the  earth's  inhabit- 
ants. It  would  be  interesting  to  consider 
the  religions  of  the  old  Roman  world,  of 
Greece,  of  Egypt,  of  Persia,  but  the  pur- 
pose had  in  view  does  not  call  specially  for 
such  consideration. 

The  religious  man  of  more  modern  and 
highly  civilized  nations,  where  science, 
literature,  art,  learning  of  every  kind,  come 


Il8  THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN. 

in  as  important  factors  to  influence  the 
problem,  must  be  more  specifically  dis- 
cussed. All  pervasive,  popular  religions 
are  of  ancient  origin.  We  have  no  dis- 
tinctive modern  system  of  faith  which  in- 
fluences whole  nations  or  large  bodies  of 
men. 

The  doctrines  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg, 
though  pure  and  elevating,  have  never 
attracted  men  in  masses,  or  secured  a  com- 
manding influence.  They  present  a  dis- 
tinctive form  of  faith,  but  do  not  essentially 
conflict  with  the  precepts  of  the  Christian 
system.  The  Mormons  are  a  class  of 
religionists  who  stand  aloof  from  the  rest 
of  mankind,  and  are  as  exclusive  as  were 
the  adherents  of  ancient  Judaism.  The 
Mormon  is  the  only  new  religion  coming 
by  special  revelation,  that  has  been  intro- 
duced to  man  during  the  past  ten  centuries, 
and  it  seems  probable  that  it  has  gained  a 
foothold  which  will  insure  its  existence  for 
a  long  period  of  time,  notwithstanding  its 
absurdities  and  corrupt  influences.  A 


THE   RELIGIOUS    MAN. 


religion  based  on  ignorance,  and  which 
panders  to  the  gratification  of  human  ap- 
petites, is  not  necessarily  short-lived.  Man 
loves  empiricism,  that  which  is  novel, 
marvellous;  and  when  a  new  religion  ap- 
pears having  these  elements,  and  which 
presents  some  human  being  as  a  demi-god, 
to  be  worshipped,  he  is  ready  to  listen  to 
its  overtures. 

If  there  were  thoughtful  men  living  at 
the  time  of  the  birth  of  the  child  Jesus, 
men  of  intelligence  and  sagacity,  equal  to 
taking  a  broad  view  of  the  world,  they 
could  not  have  been  optimists,  as  the 
period  was  so  gloomy  that  even  the  glad 
sunshine  must,  to  the  masses  of  mankind, 
have  seemed  to  be  tinged  by  dark  shad- 
ows. It  was  an  uncongenial  age  in  which 
to  introduce  a  new  religion  based  on  love. 

Force,  controlled  by  human  selfishness, 
held  the  world  in  its  iron  grasp,  and  pagan 
Rome  regarded  all  mankind  as  its  vas- 
sals. The  eye  of  an  observer  could  not 
be  turned  in  any  direction  without  gazing 


I2O  THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN. 

upon  flowing  blood  ;  but  flowing  tears 
were  seldom  seen,  for  if  one  wept  it  was 
in  secret.  It  has  been  observed  that  in 
rude  states  of  society,  where  excessive 
cruelties  prevail,  the  emotion  of  sorrow 
seldom  culminates  in  tears,  —  woman 
shrieks,  howls,  and  uproots  her  hair  in 
hours  of  grief,  but  the  eyelids  are  not 
moistened  by  tears;  the  fountains  which 
well  up  so  copiously  under  the  influence 
of  emotion  in  Christian  society  are  dry 
in  savage  life.  So  base  were  tyrants  gov- 
erning men  at  the  beginning  of  the  Chris- 
tian era  that  an  order  for  a  general  mas- 
sacre of  infants  throughout  a  populous 
district,  to  meet  an  end,  was  given  with- 
out the  slightest  remorse ;  and  so  crushed 
were  the  governed,  that  the  right  to 
accomplish  such  an  act  was  hardly  ques- 
tioned. 

Man,  as  a  religious  being,  prior  to  the 
advent  of  the  great  Teacher  of  Nazareth, 
was  to  a  considerable  extent  elevated  and 
improved  by  the  religious  sentiment,  but 


THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN.  121 

no  one  of  the  prevailing  systems  was  com- 
petent to  lift  him  into  the  high  position 
for  which  he  was  designed.  The  moral 
maxims,  the  wise  inculcations,  found  in 
the  great  religions  of  southern  and  central 
Asia  were  of  an  elevating  character,  but 
so  encumbered  by  mysticism  and  super- 
stition that  they  retarded  progress  in 
many  directions.  The  pagan  system  of 
Rome  presented  scarcely  a  humane  or  up- 
lifting suggestion.  It  was  based  on  self- 
ishness and  cruelty.  Judaism,  which  held 
control  of  the  Jews,  was  a  religion  having 
its  bloody  altars,  and  a  priesthood  exclu- 
sive, conceited,  selfish,  factious.  The  ex- 
ternals of  this  religion,  save  in  the  matter 
of  human  sacrifices,  appear  to  have  been 
but  little  less  repulsive  than  those  of  the 
Aztecs  in  the  time  of  Cortes. 

The  religion  of  "  peace  on  earth  and 
good  will  to  man"  came  as  the  rosy 
morning  light,  which  serenely  and  noise- 
lessly breaks  in  upon  the  mists  and  dark- 
ness of  night ;  it  came  as  a  messenger  of 


122  THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN. 

peace  who  emerges  from  the  ranks  of  the 
enemy  in  the  lull  of  battle,  —  as  the  heal- 
ing north  wind  comes  to  crowd  back  the 
sultry  germ-impregnated  air  in  times  of 
desolating  plague.  The  world  could  not 
at  first  understand  the  message  brought 
to  earth  by  the  Prince  of  Peace  ;  it  was 
of  higher,  holier  import  than  anything 
which  had  before  fallen  upon  the  ear  of 
man.  Such  a  message  could  not  be  of 
earthly  origin  ;  it  must  be  divine,  —  it  was 
divine. 

The  religion  taught  by  Jesus  was  not 
mere  formalism ;  it  was  not  bolted  to  any 
system,  had  no  ritual,  but  it  was  spiritual 
and  ethical.  The  God  which  he  brought 
to  view  was  a  God  of  love,  the  universal 
Father.  The  Jehovah  or  God  of  Judaism 
was  harsh,  unforgiving,  relentless;  the 
God  of  Jesus  is  moved  with  pity  and  filled 
with  compassion.  "  Behold,"  he  said,  "  I 
give  unto  you  a  new  commandment :  That 
ye  love  one  another."  "He  that  loveth 
not,  knoweth  not  God,  for  God  is  love." 


THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN.  123 

"  There  is  no  fear  in  love,  but  perfect 
love  casteth  out  fear,  because  fear  hath 
torment."  He  knew  better  than  any  one 
what  torments  had  afflicted  mankind 
through  fear,  and  it  was  his  mission  to 
banish  fear  and  introduce  love.  This  was 
a  new  departure  in  a  religious  system,  and 
the  world  was  incredulous.  He  practically 
abrogated  the  old  dispensation,  but  cher- 
ished a  regard  for  what  was  good  and 
proper  in  the  established  laws  and  usages 
of  the  country.  He  broke  in  upon  the 
austerities  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath  by  at- 
tending upon  all  proper  duties  on  that  day, 
and  he  denounced  the  ceremonials  and 
perverted  usages  of  the  temple. 

All  the  teachings  of  Jesus  were  elevated 
in  spirit  and  pure  in  sentiment.  He  said 
to  his  followers,  "  Love  your  enemies,  bless 
them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to  them  that 
hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  that  despite- 
fully  use  you  and  persecute  you."  "Judge 
not  that  ye  be  not  judged."  "  If  ye  forgive 
not  men  their  trespasses,  neither  will  your 


124  THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN. 

Heavenly  Father  forgive  your  trespasses." 
"Take  heed  that  ye  do  not  your  alms  be- 
fore men,  to  be  seen  of  them."  These 
teachings  were  not  bare  negations,  but  ex- 
plicit and  practical,  and  the  life  of  the 
teacher  was  as  pure  and  noble  as  his 
teachings. 

Many  thoughtful  men  are  troubled  with 
doubts  respecting  the  claims  of  Jesus  as 
being  divine.  They  hesitatingly  admit  he 
was  from  God,  and  endeavor  to  turn  aside 
doubt  by  consideration  of  the  unparalleled 
purity  of  his  life.  One  of  the  great  states- 
men and  orators  of  the  present  century, 
Daniel  Webster,  thought  deeply  upon  this 
point,  and  he  wrote  out  the  substance  of 
his  conclusions,  and  directed  the  state- 
ment to  be  placed  upon  a  tablet  over  his 
grave  :  — 

"  Philosophical  argument,"  he  says,  "  es- 
pecially that  drawn  from  the  vastness  of 
the  universe  in  comparison  with  the  appar- 
ent insignificance  of  this  globe,  has  some- 
times shaken  my  reason  for  the  faith  that 


THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN.  125 

is  in  me,  but  my  heart  has  always  assured 
and  reassured  me  that  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  must  be  a  divine  reality.  The  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  cannot  be  a  merely 
human  production.  This  belief  enters 
into  the  very  depths  of  my  conscience. 
The  whole  history  of  man  proves  it." 

All  that  is  great  and  noble  in  man 
responds  to  a  similar  view  of  Jesus.  His 
doctrines  have  lifted  mankind  up  from  a 
low  condition  socially  and  spiritually,  and 
brought  to  view  a  higher  life,  which  we 
enter  upon  at  the  close  of  our  material 
existence. 

In  studying  the  histories  of  the  great 
religions  of  the  world,  we  discover  one  fact 
which  early  arrests  the  attention  ;  it  is, 
that  founders  of  systems  have  not  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  inflexible,  enduring 
forms  of  faith  and  rules  of  practice.  It 
has  been  the  expectation  and  design  to 
accomplish  this  result,  but  misapprehen- 
sion and  interpolation  become  active  agen- 
cies as  soon  as  founders  of  faiths  are 


126  THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN. 

removed  by  death.  Some  of  the  funda- 
mental teachings  of  Buddha,  Mohammed, 
Confucius,  Zoroaster,  have  been  almost 
eliminated  from  their  systems,  and  per- 
verted interpretations  have  changed  the 
meaning  and  intent  to  so  great  a  degree  as 
to  produce  revolutionary  results.  It  is 
true,  the  pivotal  principles,  the  active  ex- 
ternals remain,  but  the  design,  the  object, 
are  to  a  large  extent  lost  sight  of,  or  falsi- 
fied. Even  the  Mormon  faith,  a  system 
devised  by  Smith,  barely  survived  the  life 
of  the  founder.  He  did  not  introduce  into 
his  system  polygamy,  and  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  he  intended  to  do  so ;  it  was 
a  doctrine  reserved  to  be  revealed  to  a 
successor,  a  sub-prophet,  Brigham  Young. 
There  have  been  secondary  prophets  and 
authoritative  apostles  connected  with  all 
religions,  who  have  taken  great  liberties 
with  the  religious  systems  of  their  masters, 
and  permanently  perverted  their  intent  and 
meaning. 

The  plain,  simple  doctrines  of  Jesus  have 


THE    RELIGIOUS   MAN.  I?/ 

suffered  at  the  hands  of  his  professed  fol- 
lowers. He  had  scarcely  cast  off  his  ma- 
terial nature  when  quarrels  arose  between 
his  brother  James  and  Paul  and  other  noted 
apostles,  and  the  questions  at  issue  .were 
not  trivial,  but  involved  principles  and 
doctrines  of  vital  interest  to  his  great  de- 
signs and  plans.  The  church  at  Jerusalem 
was  obliged  to  yield  to  the  tact  and  elo- 
quence of  Paul ;  and  the  all-embracing 
arms  of  Jesus  were  permitted  to  be  ex- 
tended around  the  uncircumcised  Gentiles. 
If  Paul  had  not  lived  it  is  impossible  to 
know  how  great  might  have  been  the  in- 
fluence of  the  life  and  doctrines  of  Jesus 
upon  the  world.  Paul  was  eminently  a  con- 
structor, a  theologian,  an  organizer ;  the 
teachings  left  by  the  Master,  so  informal 
and  fragmentary,  perhaps  required  an  or- 
ganizer to  adjust  them  to  the  needs  of  an 
ignorant  world* 

It  is  impossible,  however,  to  avoid  the 
feeling  that  in  the  teachings  of  Paul  we 
have  the  groundwork  of  those  systems  of 


128  THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN. 

man-made  creeds  which  have  so  disas- 
trously afflicted  mankind.  Nothing  could 
have  been  further  from  the  design  of  the 
gentle,  peace-loving  Jesus  than  to  have 
divided  his  believers  by  sects  and  creeds. 
He  hated  dissensions,  jealousies,  quarrels, 
commotions,  and  struggled  hard  to  put  his 
doctrines  into  form  of  words  so  plain  that 
the  "  wayfaring  man,"  the  uneducated,  the 
men  of  "penury  and  want"  might  clearly 
understand  them,  without  exegesis,  with- 
out expounders. 

The  religion  of  Jesus  is  eminently 
spiritual ;  it  has  to  do  with  man's  spiritual 
nature,  and  fully  recognizes  the  fact  that 
he  has  such  a  nature.  He  was  constantly 
overshadowed  by  angelic  influences  and 
pervaded  with  spirituality  and  love.  He 
taught  the  divine  fatherhood  of  God,  the 
universal  fraternity  of  man,  and  the  per- 
petual ministry  of  angels  and  spirits.  One 
of  the  most  distinctive  of  his  teachings 
was,  that  the  thick  veil  which  hides  the 
seen  from  the  unseen  world  is  not  under 


THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN.  I2Q 

all  conditions  impervious  to  human  sight ; 
that  angels  and  disembodied  spirits  are 
constantly  passing  from  one  to  the  other, 
and  that  the  two  worlds  are  in  close  con- 
nection. He  worked  miracles,  and  prom- 
ised that  they  should  be  continued :  "  He 
that  believeth  on  me,  the  works  that  I  do 
shall  he  do  -also ;  and  greater  works  than 
these  shall  he  do."  No  declaration  can  be 
clearer  or  more  explicit  than  this.  If  that 
which  is  recorded  as  history  be  authentic, 
it  appears  that  miracle-working  was  pos- 
sible in  the  church  for  several  centuries 
after  the  death  of  Jesus.  St.  Augustine, 
one  of  the  most  orthodox  of  the  ante-Nicene 
fathers  living  in  the  third  century,  says, 
"  They  ask  me,  why  do  the  miracles  which, 
as  you  say,  were  performed  in  former  times 
not  occur  to-day  ?  "  and  he  replies,  "  At 
this  very  day  a  multitude  of  miracles  do 
occur.  The  same  God  who  worked  the 
signs  and  wonders  which  we  read  of  works 
similar  prodigies  still  by  such  persons  as  he 
sees  fit  to  select."  The  promise  of  Jesus 


I3O  THE   RELIGIOUS   MAN. 

continues,  do  the  gifts  follow  ?  If  not, 
why  ?  John  Wesley,  the  founder  of  Meth- 
odism, presents  this  answer  :  "  The  grand 
reason,"  he  says,  "  why  the  miraculous  gifts 
were  soon  withdrawn  was,  not  only  that 
faith  and  holiness  were  well  nigh  lost,  but 
that  dry,  formal  orthodox  men  began  even 
then  to  ridicule  whatever  gifts  they  had 
not  themselves,  and  to  decry  them  all  as 
either  madness  or  imposition." 

Science  denies  the  possibility  of  miracles 
on  the  ground  that  they  transcend  the  laws 
of  nature.  There  might  be  force  in  this 
assumption  if  it  was  certain  that  all  the 
laws  of  nature  are  clearly  understood. 
Science  is  now  at  work  upon  the  border 
land  between  the  known  and  unknown. 
The  lifting  mists  of  the  unknown  land  ad- 
mit a  dim  and  shadowy  light,  which  gives 
promise  of  further  widening  rifts  in  the 
darkness,  so  that  the  explorer  may  enter 
and  study  the  higher  or  occult  laws  of 
nature. 

The  importance  of  the  specific  transac- 


THE   RELIGIOUS   MAN. 


tions  of  Jesus,  called  miracles,  has  long 
seemed  to  me  to  be  greatly  exaggerated. 
It  is  certain  that  the  Master  himself  re- 
garded them  as  having  but  little  to  do 
with  the  real  objects  of  his  mission.  He 
never  performed  an  ostentatious  miracle, 
never  an  objectless  one.  They  were  not 
done  with  any  view  of  sustaining  his  claims 
to  divine  power,  not  to  awe,  not  to  extort 
adulation,  not  to  provoke  worship,  not  to 
incite  obedience.  The  miracles  he  per- 
formed came  in  accordance  with  natural 
events  ;  they  served  to  meet  exigencies, 
to  accomplish  some  great  good.  He  en- 
joined those  who  were  benefited  by  them 
to  remain  silent,  not  to  proclaim  the  acts 
in  the  ear  of  the  multitude,  not  to  speak 
of  them  even.  "  Go,"  he  said,  "  tell  no 
man."  He  seems  to  have  regarded  this 
power  as  one  easy  of  exercise,  unlimited 
in  its  capabilities  and  beneficent  in  its  ends. 
He  employed  as  the  basis  of  his  acts 
the  agents  in  nature  in  close  proximity, 
as  when  he  restored  sight  to  the  blind 


132  THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN. 

man,  when  water  was  changed  to  wine, 
when  the  multitude  were  fed  with  the  two 
small  fishes. 

Viewing  these  transactions  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  chemist,  it  may  be  of 
interest  to  consider  a  single  example,  the 
changing  of  water  into  wine.  Wines,  as  a 
class,  differ  from  water  in  holding  several 
substances  which  give  to  them  distinguish- 
ing characteristics.  Among  these  are 
sugar,  ethers,  organic  acids,  and  alcohol. 
Water,  constituted  of  the  elements,  oxygen 
and  hydrogen,  does  not  hold  in  chemical 
combination  one  of  the  elements  needed 
by  molecular  change  to  form  wine,  but  it 
does  hold  in  solution  the  wanting  element, 
namely,  carbon.  Water,  at  ordinary  tem- 
peratures and  atmospheric  pressure,  is 
capable  of  holding  an  equal  volume  of 
carbon  dioxide,  which  may  be  absorbed 
from  the  atmosphere  ;  and  as  that  supplies 
carbon,  it  is  possible  to  have  in  water 
every  element  needed  to  form  wine,  namely, 
oxygen,  hydrogen,  and  carbon.  The  sugar 


THE    RELIGIOUS    MAN.  133 

is  made  up  solely  of  molecules  of  water 
combined  with  carbon,  the  ethers  are 
formed  of  groupings  of  the  same  elements, 
and  so  are  the  acids.  The  alcohol  results 
from  slight  molecular  change  in  sugar; 
and  thus  it  is  seen  that  if  we  had  the 
power  of  controlling  molecular  changes  in 
water  we  could  at  any  moment  transmute 
it  into  wine.  Chemical  laws,  as  we  under- 
stand them,  do  not  admit  of  such  molecular 
disturbances  ;  but  to  the  Master,  who  pos- 
sessed a  deeper  insight,  the  hidden  laws 
of  nature  were  open,  and  the  divine  power, 
to  direct  them  was  his.  In  all  instances 
he  worked  through,  and  very  close  to 
nature ;  he  was  indeed  of  nature,  con- 
stituted of  material  atoms  outwardly ;  but 
the  spiritual  man,  the  inward  nature,  was 
transcendent  in  power  and  beauty. 

As  has  been  intimated,  the  alleged 
miracles  of  Jesus  seem  to  me  to  have  but 
secondary  importance.  If  his  ministra- 
tions on  earth  had  been  unattended  by 
them,  the  higher  and  more  sublime  miracle 


134  THE   RELIGIOUS    MAN. 

would  remain,  —  that  of  his  blameless  life 
and  perfect  example  of  unselfishness  and 
love. 

The  religious  man,  genuinely  and  fully 
influenced  by  his  teaching,  and  unwarped 
by  creed  or  sect,  presents  the  highest  type, 
the  most  pleasing  example  of  the  perfect 
man  to  be  found  upon  our  planet. 


WHAT  OF  DEATH? 


PHYSICAL  death  is  the  last  in  that  pro- 
cession of  events  which  constitute  the 
drama  of  life.  It  occurs  in  obedience  to 
an  inexorable  law  of  nature,  and  should 
be  regarded  as  no  more  irregular  or  dis- 
orderly than  sleep  or  fatigue.  Chemically 
viewed,  death  is  an  interesting  problem, 
inasmuch  as  it  shows  that  law  under  no 
circumstances  permits  of  variation,  and 
that  the  highest  organized  matter  must 
fall  from  its  superior  position  to  the  in- 
ferior ;  must  cease  from  its  play  of  chem- 
ical activities,  and  take  its  place  again  in 
the  dead  inorganic  world.  The  rounded, 
symmetrical  form  of  the  child  or  fair 
woman,  so  beautiful  as  to  command  admi- 
ration of  every  one,  and.  enlist  the  skill 
of  painters  and  sculptors  in  perpetuating 


136  WHAT    OF    DEATH? 

on  canvas  or  in  marble  the  pleasing  out- 
lines, must  be  subjected  to  the  same  chem- 
ical reactions  which  change  the  most  re- 
pulsive forms  of  organized  matter. 

The  tension  which  has  been  maintained 
throughout  life  between  chemical  forces 
on  the  one  hand,  and  vital  force  on  the 
other,  ceases  at  death,  the  citadel  of  life 
capitulates,  and  chemical  change  proceeds 
in  its  destructive  work,  with  no  foe  to 
oppose  its  progress.  Thus  ends  material 
man. 

The  dread  of  death  may  be  partly 
natural  and  partly  due  to  superstition  or 
religious  bias.  The  old  mediaeval  ecclesi- 
asticism,  upholding  a  theology  in  which 
hell,  purgatory,  and  devils  were  objects 
brought  most  prominently  before  the  at- 
tention, had  much  to  do  in  fastening  upon 
the  minds  of  succeeding  generations  a 
terror  of  death.  Pagan  religions,  ancient 
and  modern,  have  little  or  nothing  in  them 
calculated  to  afford  a  pleasing  hope  or 
sustain  the  mind  in  its  contemplation  of 
the  hour  of  dissolution. 


WHAT   OF   DEATH?  137 

Notwithstanding  the  prevailing  dread  of 
death,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  Infinite 
One,  in  the  matter  of  dying,  is  beneficent 
to  everything  that  lives  upon  the  earth. 
In  all  inferior  animals  the  foreknowledge 
of  death  does  not  exist,  and  it  is  an  event 
of  which  they  are  not  permitted  to  learn 
anything  by  observation.  The  slaughter 
of  animals  may  occur  in  the  presence  of 
others,  and  no  fear  is  excited  as  the  work 
goes  on.  In  the  slaughter  of  animals,  if 
quickly  and  humanely  accomplished,  there 
is  no  suffering  ;  and  when  death  occurs 
from  accident  or  in  the  course  of  nature, 
the  suffering  is  doubtless  insignificant. 
We  have  no  means  of  knowing  what  may 
be  the  nature  or  extent  of  pain  in  animals ; 
it  must  be,  however,  far  less  disturbing 
than  in  the  case  of  man. 

Human  beings,  in  a  general  way,  cherish 
a  fear  of  death,  but  it  does  not  trouble  them 
in  any  of  the  pursuits  of  life ;  it  is  not  the 
source  of  positive  unhappiness  to  many 
during  the  term  of  the  longest  existence. 


138  WHAT   OF   DEATH? 

All  the  direct  terror  is  confined  to  or  near 
the  moment  of  death ;  and,  in  the  absence 
of  morbid  mental  conditions,  it  is  not  then 
a  disturbing  influence.  At  the  worst,  the 
dread  of  death  does  not  prevail  in  indi- 
vidual instances  during  one-third  of  the 
period  of  existence.  During  the  period  of 
youth  we  have  no  more  fear  of  death  than 
we  have  of  sleep ;  in  adolescence  the  ac 
tive  cares  of  life  absorb  all  the  attention, 
and  death  is  practically  regarded  as  im- 
possible ;  in  old  age  we  feel  that  death  is 
not  an  enemy  to  be  dreaded  ;  or,  by  that 
curious  mental  process  by  which  the  mind 
is  bent  to  the  inevitable,  slowly  and  imper- 
ceptibly, the  event  is  regarded  with  perfect 
equanimity,  or  even  happiness. 

Instances  of  death  from  purely  natural 
causes  are  rare.  By  natural  causes  is 
meant  death  from  the  normal  decay  of  the 
vital  forces,  when  metamorphosis  of  tissue 
ceases,  and  the  spiritual  nature  relaxes  its 
hold  upon  the  material,  the  work  of  life 
being  accomplished.  Fully  one-half  of 


WHAT   OF    DEATH?  139 

the  human  beings  who  people  the  earth  die 
from  accident,  and  one-half  of  the  remain- 
der from  defective  organizations  arising 
from  heredity.  Accidents  which  terminate 
the  physical  career  of  man  are  not  neces- 
sarily violent  or  sudden  in  their  nature. 
A  severe  chill,  arising  from  unexpected  or 
unavoidable  exposure,  which  terminates  in 
fatal  pneumonia,  is  of  the  nature  of  an 
accident,  and  so  are  sun-strokes,  lightning- 
strokes,  malarial  fever,  etc.  All  zymotic 
or  germ  diseases  which  decimate  popula- 
tions come  to  individuals  from  accident  of 
location  or  exposure.  Combatants  in  war 
die  from  accident,  rarely  from  natural 
causes.  Hereditary  taint,  as  a  cause  of 
death,  fills  up  wide  gaps  in  our  bills  of 
mortality.  The  imperfect  physical  organ- 
ization of  a  father  or  mother  is  transmitted 
to  children  with  fatal  results.  The  wail  of 
woe  which  arises  in  all  lands  from  improper 
and  almost  criminal  marriage  is  pitiful 
enough,  one  would  think,  to  startle  the 
most  careless  and  indifferent,  and  lead  to 


I4O  WHAT   OF    DEATH? 

devising  means  to  mitigate  or  remove  the 
evil. 

Nature  is  not  always  kind,  or  at  least 
seemingly  not  so.  Her  one  grand  intent 
of  evolving  a  universal  perfection  is  not 
carried  forward  without  pain  and  misery. 
Progress,  or  advancement  toward  the  good, 
is  not  always  attended  by  happiness.  Man 
only  attains  the  highest  good  through  suf- 
fering, and  this  is  a  lesson  of  such  universal 
application  that  it  cannot  well  be  over- 
looked. Moral  and  physical  evil  is  in  the 
world  for  a  purpose ;  the  purpose  being  to 
bring  to  view,  by  contrast,  the  desirable- 
ness of  the  good.  Evil  is  intended  to  be 
disciplinary,  and  it  is  well  to  heed  its 
lessons. 

There  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  nature 
^intended  death  to  be  cruel  or  painful  to  the 
mind,  or  physically  painful  to  the  body. 
The  natural  man  should  know  no  more 
concerning  his  own  death  than  his  own 
birth.  He  comes  into  the  world  without 
the  consciousness  of  suffering ;  and  if  the 


WHAT   OF    DEATH?  14! 

perfect  law  be  fulfilled,  he  will  die  oblivious 
to  all  pains,  mental  and  physical.  At  his 
birth,  he  sleeps  into  existence,  and  awakens 
into  knowledge ;  at  his  death,  he  dozes 
into  sleep,  and  awakens  to  a  new  life. 

Dread  of  death  arises  from  two  promi- 
nent causes :  fear  of  physical  pain,  and 
uncertainty  in  regard  to  what  comes  after 
death.  The  concurrent  testimony  of  all 
medical  men  who  are  called  to  sit  by  the 
bedside  of  the  departing  is,  that  mankind 
entertain  greatly  exaggerated  notions  of 
the  suffering  in  physical  death.  Notwith- 
standing, in  our  present  social  state,  we  so 
frequently  thwart  nature  and  violate  her 
laws,  she  still  vindicates  her  intentions, 
and  gives  true  euthanasia  to  most,  and 
often  where  it  is  least  expected.  No  phe- 
nomenon in  nature  is  more  wonderful  than 
physical  death,  as  the  event  comes  to  the 
notice  of  physicians  under  all  circum- 
stances incident  to  the  duties  of  the  pro- 
fession. Death,  by  nature,  is  a  kind  of 
waking  sleep;  the  faculties  of  the  mind, 


142  WHAT   OF    DEATH? 

without  pain,  or  anger,  or  sorrow,  lose 
their  way,  retire,  rest.  The  man,  strong  in 
intellect  perhaps,  is  reduced  to  the  instinct- 
ive ;  the  consummation  approaches ;  the 
deep  sleep  that  falls  so  often  is  the  sleep 
that  knows  no  waking;  and  without  pain, 
or  struggle,  or  knowledge  of  what  happens, 
the  disenthralled  spirit  departs.  This  is 
natural  death,  and  of  the  nature  which 
would  befall  most,  if  the  free  will,  which 
has  been  given  doubtless  for  wise  purposes, 
did  not  lead  us  into,  antagonism  with 
nature's  laws.  Sudden  and  violent  deaths 
are  usually  painless  or  nearly  so,  although 
often  to  the  observer  they  do  not  seem  so. 
A  fall  or  blow,  the  passage  of  a  bullet 
through  vital  organs,  incised  wounds,  deep 
into  the  tissues  or  viscera,  influence  instan- 
taneously nerve  centres,  and  partial  insen- 
sibility occurs,  so  that  if  fatal  results  follow 
speedily  there  is  but  little  suffering  in  the 
act  of  death. 

In  great  calamities    which   befall  com- 
munities, where  numbers  perish,  the  mind 


WHAT   OF    DEATH  ?  143 

is  filled  with  sublime  awe,  and  the  emotions 
are  stirred  to  the  utmost,  but  the  bodies 
subjected  to  the  fatal  casualty  are  so  killed 
that  they  have  not  time  to  know  or  feel. 

In  experiments  with  induction  coils  of 
great  power,  I  have  frequently,  through 
inadvertency  or  accident,  received  powerful 
currents  through  the  hands  and  limbs,  so 
that  instantaneous  temporary  unconscious- 
ness occurred.  They  would  have  caused 
death  had  they  been  directed  to  vital  parts, 
and  in  that  event  it  would  have  been 
wholly  painless.  The  fatal  force  moves  so 
rapidly  that  impressions  of  sense  have  not 
time  to  reach  the  brain  before  the  mind  is 
incapable  of  acting  through  the  organ,  and 
hence  there  can  be  no  suffering  in  death 
by  lightning-stroke.  Sudden  death  is 
never  undesirable  unless  it  bears  heavily 
upon  the  sympathies  and  external  condi- 
tion of  survivors. 

Death  resulting  from  protracted  and 
hopeless  ills,  as  cancer,  consumption,  bro- 
ken heart,  etc.,  is  not  without  its  consola- 


144  WHAT    OF    DEATH? 

tion.  Death  is  often  welcomed,  not  as  an 
enemy,  but  as  a  courted  friend.  We  have, 
in  the  instance  of  a  distinguished  Southern 
senator  dying  of  cancer,  an  illustration  of 
the  serenity  which  may  come  to  one  under 
apparently  the  most  deplorable  circum- 
stances. In  the  declaration  made  by  the 
sufferer,  that  "  he  was  never  happier  in  his 
life  "  than  while  watching  the  progress  of 
the  disease  and  waiting  for  the  end,  we 
discover  the  action  of  that  strange  but 
beneficent  law  of  reciprocity  which  pre- 
vails so  widely  throughout  nature. 

There  are  few  evils  or  conditions  in  life 
which  come  under  observation,  which 
are  not  less  afflictive  to  those  involved 
than  they  seem  to  the  observer.  An  in- 
stance of  great  apparent  affliction  came 
under  my  notice,  where  the  heads  of  a 
family,  husband  and  wife,  both  in  middle 
life,  were  sick  of  incurable  diseases  in  the 
same  room ;  the  husband  from  suppuration 
of  an  encysted  bullet  in  the  cavity  of  the 
lungs,  the  mother  from  cancer  of  the 


WHAT    OF    DEATH?  14$ 

breast.  All  the  circumstances  were  sad; 
the  parties  were  highly  intelligent,  poor, 
and  dependent,  the  physical  suffering  was 
great,  and  they  were  among  strangers. 
There  appeared  to  be  nothing  ameliorating 
in  the  cases,  but  the  sufferers  were  cheer- 
ful and  even  happy.  Life  was  hardly  a 
question  of  days  with  either,  and  yet  they 
were  interested  in  the  affairs  of  the  world, 
in  passing  events,  and  continued  so  to  the 
end,  which  was  painless  and  peaceful. 
Like  instances  are  not  rare  in  the  experi- 
ence of  every  physician. 

In  lingering  death  from  consumption, 
that  disease  which  is  so  widespread  in  this 
country,  painful  as  it  is,  even  terrible  to 
witness,  the  action  of  death,  though  it  may 
be  physically  hard,  is  not  usually  cruel. 
It  strikes  the  young  largely,  in  whom  the 
hope  of  life  and  the  belief  in  life  are  strong, 
and  the  victims  are  never  without  hope  of 
recovery.  They  live  to  the  final  hour  in 
happy  plannings  for  the  future,  and  die  in 
the  dream. 


WHAT   OF    DEATH? 


The  lesson  we  have  to  learn  is,  that  the 
Supreme  Creator  is  beneficent  even  in  the 
act  of  death  ;  if  there  is  terror,  sorrow,  it 
is  made  terror,  made  sorrow,  and  does  not 
come  by  nature. 

Euthanasia  does  not  belong  exclusively 
to  any  one  nation  or  people,  nor  is  it  an 
attendant  upon  any  form  of  religious  faith. 
It  belongs  to  all,  and  comes  to  all.  The 
Christian  faith  supplies  views  of  the  life 
beyond,  better  calculated,  when  rightly 
interpreted,  to  afford  euthanasia  than  any 
other.  The  teachings  of  Jesus  are  assur- 
ing, and  abound  in  hope  of  a  higher  life 
beyond  ;  but  he  was  careful,  doubtless  for 
wise  reasons,  to  present  no  clear  and  defi- 
nite views,  such  as  would  banish  doubt 
and  controversy.  The  expounders  of  his 
doctrines,  though  contemporary  with  him, 
have  not  thrown  any  clear  light  upon  the 
nature  of  .  a  future  state  of  existence,  but 
they  have  emphasized  the  great  truth  that 
man  shall  live  again 

The  form   of  allegory  and   parable   in 


WHAT   OF    DEATH? 


which  the  doctrines  of  the  Master  and  his 
apostles  are  presented  has  given  rise  to 
great  perversions  and  misapprehension  in 
exegesis,  and  thereby  much  suffering  has 
resulted  to  the  Christian  world.  It  is  not 
due  to  this  fact  alone  that  Christian  be- 
lievers have  been  divided  and  sub-divided 
into  ecclesiastical  bodies  and  sects,  but  it 
has  had  much  influence  in  accomplishing 
this  result.  The  doctrines  of  Jesus,  which 
bring  life  and  immortality  to  light,  should 
be  the  guiding  star  to  lead  the  believer 
serenely  and  peacefully  through  nature's 
last  change,  that  of  physical  death. 

The  mental  condition  has  much  to  do, 
in  the  hour  of  dissolution,  with  that  happy 
serenity  which  is  so  desirable.  This  is 
greatly  influenced  by  morbid  physical  con- 
dition, by  erroneous  views  of  events  beyond, 
and  by  consciousness  of  a  misspent,  way- 
ward life.  Deeply  wretched  is  the  indi- 
vidual who  realizes  for  the  first  time,  at 
the  last  moment,  that  obligations  to  a 
moral  and  religious  nature  have  been 


148  WHAT   OF    DEATH? 

neglected  through  life,  that  sin  has  usurped 
the  place  of  the  good  and  right,  and  that 
there  is  no  fitness,  no  preparation  for  a 
higher  life,  in  the  next  state  of  existence. 

The  act  of  dying  involves  two  distinct 
proceedings  :  the  arrest  of  functional  ac- 
tivities in  the  body,  and  consequent 
chemical  change ;  and  the  evolving  of  the 
spiritual  nature  out  of  its  material  environ- 
ment. It  is  indeed  a  most  pleasing  and 
significant  fact  that,  in  nearly  all  cases 
where  death  is  not  sudden  and  unexpected, 
the  mind  asserts  itself  in  accordance  with 
its  high  nature  at  the  moment  of  separation. 
A  dozen  years  ago  a  very  interesting  and 
important  paper  was  published  by  Dr.  'La 
Roche,  of  Philadelphia,  on  "Resumption 
of  the  Mental  Faculties  at  the  Approach 
of  Death."  This  paper  excited  great  in- 
terest among  medical  men  in  this  country 
and  in  Europe,  and  was  largely  commented 
upon.  Its  object  is  to  show  that  sick 
persons,  where  the  mental  faculties  are 
clouded  by  delirium,  will  in  the  hour  of 


WHAT    OF    DEATH?  149 

death  become  perfectly  lucid  and  speak 
with  wisdom,  with  power  of  memory,  and 
with  pleasure ;  their  whole  past  lives 
coming  into  distinct  view.  The  spirit  as 
it  is  released  from  the  grasp  of  the  material 
body  becomes  as  it  were  normal  in  its 
capabilities,  and  affords  a  clear  indication 
of  what  it  will  be  the  moment  full  freedom 
is  attained.  It  is  common  for  patients 
prostrated  by  disease,  and  who  rave  like 
maniacs,  or  talk  irrationally,  or  who  sink 
into  a  deep  lethargic  sleep  from  which  they 
cannot  be  aroused,  to  suddenly  acquire 
consciousness,  regain  their  natural  condi- 
tion of  mind,  become  clear  in  their  per- 
ceptions, and  then  in  a  few  moments  fall 
back  and  die.  This  fact  has  been  noticed 
by  physicians  as  far  back  as  the  time  of 
Hippocrates,  and  is  indeed  spoken  of  by 
Hippocrates  himself.  This  noted  physician 
closes  a  description  of  some  similar  cases, 
in  the  following  remarkable  language  :  — 

"  As  to  the  state  of  the  soul,  every  sense 
becomes  clear  and  pure,  the  intellect  acute, 


I5O  WHAT   OF    DEATH? 

and  the  gnostic  powers  so  prophetic  that 
the  patients  can  prognosticate  to  them- 
selves, in  the  first  place  their  own  departure 
from  life,  then  what  will  take  place  to 
those  present." 

Dr.  La  Roche,  in  the  paper  alluded  to, 
shows  that  the  mind  becomes  clear  in 
death,  when  the  brain  is  greatly  diseased, 
when  inflammation  of  the  coverings  is 
present,  even  when  there  is  change  in  the 
brain  substance  itself.  If  lucidity  of  thought 
occurs  in  a  diseased,  disorganized  brain 
antecedently  and  up  to  the  moment  of 
death,  it  is  a  strong  argument  to  show 
that  the  mind  can  act  independently  of 
the  physical  brain ;  that  it  is  an  entirely 
distinct  principle,  and  not  dependent  for 
healthy  action  on  healthy  physical  con- 
dition. 

It  is  indeed  a  great  mystery  how  the 
two  natures  of  man  are  associated,  how 
they  are  blended  so  as  to  exhibit  the 
complicated  and  apparent  contradictory 
phenomena  of  life.  It  is  much  to  know, 


WHAT   OF   DEATH? 


however,  that  a  mind,  perverted  and  dis- 
eased under  the  ordinary  conditions  of 
life,  becomes  normal  at  the  moment  when 
the  silver  cord  is  loosened  which  binds  the 
immortal  to  the  mortal. 

There  is  good  reason  for  believing  that 
in  every  case  of  death,  where  the  mental 
faculties  are  impaired,  lucidity  occurs  ante- 
cedent to  the  final  separation,  although 
the  fact  may  not  always  become  known  to 
those  in  attendance  upon  the  patient.  It 
is  also  probably  true  that  the  mind  of 
every  one  becomes  more  or  less  exalted  as 
the  border  line  of  death  is  reached,  and 
before  a  complete  sundering  occurs.  In 
the  case  of  many  this  exaltation  reaches 
to  a  high  degree,  and  the  mind  becomes 
as  it  were  clairvoyant. 

This  is  the  state  alluded  to  by  Hippo- 
crates, in  the  extract  from  his  writings 
which  has  been  presented.  It  is  a  state 
when  the  soul  becomes  illuminated  by 
some  wandering  rays  from  that  region  of 
light  into  which  it  is  about  to  enter.  The 


152  WHAT   OF   DEATH? 

mind  becomes  prophetic,  and  through  the 
audible  voice,  or  whisperings  tremulous 
and  low,  strange  messages  are  conveyed 
to  waiting  friends ;  messages  of  love,  con- 
solation, hope,  wafted  from  the  unseen 
land,  from  departed  friends,  who  can  speak 
through  the  loosening  spirit  of  the  dying. 

The  dying,  those  of  the  highest  culture 
and  intelligence,  often  assert  that  they  are 
surrounded  by  spiritual  forms  of  deceased 
friends,  and  are  under  their  kind  ministra- 
tions. This  is  declared  by  the  cold  agnos- 
tic and  materialist  to  be  but  mental 
hallucination  consequent  upon  the  weak- 
ening of  the  brain  power;  but  those  open 
to  the  higher  spiritual  influences  which 
are  so  palpable  to  the  observant  and  recep- 
tive, are  not  willing  thus  to  coldly  dismiss 
the  testimony. 

If  man  has  a  spiritual  nature  which  sur- 
vives the  death  of  the  body,  and  which  is 
separated  from  it  at  the  moment  of  disso- 
lution, why  may  not  the  act  of  separation 
under  some  circumstances  be  made  appar- 


WHAT   OF    DEATH?  153 

ent  to  those  who  watch  at  the  bedsides  of 
the  dying  ? 

Very  many  physicians  and  nurses  state 
that  they  have  often  observed  some  occult 
appearances  or  movements  at  the  moment 
of  death,  which  conveyed  the  impression 
that  something  hovered  over  or  departed 
from  the  patient. 

The  interesting  work  of  the  late  Dr. 
Clarke  of  Boston,  "Visions,"  to  which  Dr. 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  has  written  an 
introduction,  mentions  a  striking  case  of  a 
lady  who  in  dying  came  under  the  notice 
of  Dr.  C.  He  remarks  that  the  lady, 
"after  saying  a  few  words,  turned  her 
head  upon  her  pillow  as  if  to  sleep ;  then 
unexpectedly  turning  it  back,  a  glow,  bril- 
liant and  beautiful  exceedingly,  came  into 
her  features,  her  eyes  opening,  sparkled 
with  singular  vivacity ;  at  the  same  mo- 
ment, with  a  tone  of  emphatic  surprise 
and  delight,  she  pronounced  the  name  of 
the  earthly  being  nearest  and  dearest  to 
her,  and  then  dropping  her  head  upon  her 


154  WHAT   OF   DEATH? 

pillow  as  unexpectedly  as  she  had  looked 
up,  her  spirit  departed  to  God  who  gave  it. 
The  conviction  forced  upon  my  mind  that 
something  departed  from  her  body  at  that 
instant  of  time,  rupturing  the  bonds  of 
flesh,  was  stronger  than  language  can 
.express." 

Dr.  Holmes,  referring  to  this  case,  says, 
"  Dr.  Clarke  mentioned  a  circumstance  to 
me  not  alluded  to  in  the  essay.  At  the 
very  instant  of  dissolution,  it  seemed  to 
him,  as  he  sat  there  by  the  dying  lady's 
bedside,  that  there  arose  something,  —  an 
undefined  yet  perfectly  apprehended  some- 
what, to  which  he  could  give  no  name,  but 
which  was  like  a  departing  presence." 
Dr.  Holmes  further  says,  "  I  should  have 
listened  to  the  story  less  receptively,  but 
for  the  fact  that  I  had  heard  the  same 
experience  almost  in  the  same  words  from 
the  lips  of  one  whose  evidence  is  to  be 
relied  upon  ;  with  the  last  breath  of  the 
parent  she  was  watching,  she  had  the  con- 
sciousness that  something  arose,  as  if  the 


WHAT   OF   DEATH?  155 

spirit  had  made  itself  cognizable  at  the 
moment  of  quitting  its  mortal  tenement." 

This  testimony  does  not  come  from 
religious  enthusiasts,  not  from  the  super- 
stitious, not  from  the  weak  and  emotional, 
but  from  sources  exactly  the  opposite. 
The  private  note-books  of  physicians  con- 
tain on  almost  every  page  memoranda  of 
like  nature. 

It  may  be  that  the  Supreme  Creator  is 
willing  to  bring  his  children  into  closer 
relationship  with  the  unseen  world,  to 
afford  them  some  glimpses  of  the  actuali- 
ties of  their  spiritual  natures.  But  if  death 
was  known  absolutely  to  be  the  end,  known 
to  be  but  the  introduction  to  the  darkness 
of  an  eternal  night,  no  greater  indifference 
could  be  manifested  than  is  observed 
around  us. 

The  mists  of  doubt  settle  heavily  upon 
all  who  claim  to  possess  a  vision  extend- 
ing further  than  the  boundaries  of  gross 
matter ;  even  the  testimony  of  the  unim- 
peachable and  pure,  those  in  whom  we  con- 


156  WHAT   OF    DEATH? 

fide  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  is  crushed 
by  suspicions  which  are  not  alone  un- 
natural, but  unjust  and  cruel.  If  the 
spiritual  eyes  of  dear  ones  are  opened 
even  at  the  impressive  hour  of  death,  by 
which  some  glimpses  are  afforded  of  the 
unseen  realities  beyond,  the  receptive  fac- 
ulties of  the  mind  are  closed,  and  the  mes- 
sages are  disregarded  through  unbelief. 

It  may  be  that  we  too  impatiently  con- 
sign to  the  realm  of  vision,  hallucination, 
fallacy,  many  important  truths,  which  are 
designed  to  widen  the  boundaries  of  human 
knowledge  and  promote  the  highest  good 
of  mankind. 


AFTER  DEATH,  WHAT  ? 


As  in  ancient  times  all  roads  led 
towards  Babylon  the  magnificent,  so  all 
earnest  modern  thought  leads  towards 
the  solution  of  the  problem  of  man's  des- 
tiny after  this  life  is  ended.  The  old  in- 
quiry, "If  a  man  die  shall  he  live  again  ? " 
still  presses  upon  reflecting  minds,  and 
none  of  its  intense  interest  has  been  lost 
since  the  question  was  asked  centuries 
ago.  The  world  had  its  philosophers  long 
before  the  dawn  of  modern  civilization,  and 
they  discussed  the  problem  with  the  ardor 
and  acuteness  of  great  minds,  and  con- 
structed systems  of  philosophy  which  even 
now  have  devoted  followers.  Plato,  Pythag- 
oras, Socrates,  Pericles,  Anaxagoras,  were 
men  competent  to  grapple  with  any  of  the 
problems  of  life  under  the  light  they  had, 


158  AFTER    DEATH,   WHAT? 

but  that  light  was  dim  indeed  in  contrast 
with  the  diffusive  beams  which  light  our 
pathway. 

The  question  which  first  comes  up  in 
the  mind  at  this  point  is,  What  aid  has 
science  rendered,  or  what  is  it  capable 
of  rendering,  towards  the  solution  of  the 
problem  of  man's  future  destiny  ?  That 
is  indeed  a  superficial  view  of  scientific  re- 
search which  confines  its  important  results 
solely  to  affirmations.  Science  has  ren- 
dered as  important  service  in  demon- 
strating what  is  not,  and  what  is  true ;  its 
negative  facts  are  as  instructive,  almost, 
as  its  affirmative. 

The  bearing  of  scientific  knowledge 
upon  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  a 
future  life  is  not  sufficiently  direct  and 
positive  to  throw  much  light  upon  the 
field  of  inquiry ;  and  yet,  negatively,  it 
brings  to  view  the  impossible  in  systems 
of  faith. 

The  belief  is  widely  entertained  that 
material  bodies,  cast  off  by  death,  are  to 


AFTER    DEATH,   WHAT?  159 

play  an  important  part  in  the  events  of 
the  life  to  come.  It  is  believed  that  the 
identical  physical  organisms  in  which  spirit 
had  its  abode  in  life  are  to  come  out  of 
earthly  graves  and  once  more  be  made 
living  bodies,  ready  to  appear  at  a  "last 
judgment."  This  remarkable  view  arises 
from  misapprehension  of  the  intent  and 
meaning  of  some  passages  in  the  writings 
of  Paul  and  other  of  the  apostles,  which 
is  not  strange,  considering  the  language 
employed. 

Science  presents  considerations  and  facts 
which  show  how  impossible  such  occur- 
rence must  be,  regarded  in  the  nature  of 
things. 

Material  man,  after  death,  ceases  to  be  ; 
personality  has  departed,  and  the  flesh 
comes  immediately  under  chemical  laws. 
The  nature  of  the  forces  exerted  upon  it  is 
the  same  that  breaks  up  all  organized  forms 
of  matter,  wherever  and  however  existing, 
Complete  disintegration  occurs,  and  the 
scattered  molecules  find  their  place  in  ac- 


I6O  AFTER    DEATH,  WHAT? 

cordance  with  the  laws  under  which  they 
are  held  in  control.  It  is  probable  that  the 
gaseous  products  and  the  inorganic  prin- 
ciples of  human  remains  ultimately  find 
their  way  into  vegetable  organisms,  as  this  is 
a  direct  pathway,  a  natural  avenue  through 
which  they  may  travel  in  their  downward 
course.  They  may  indeed  continue  in  a 
circle  of  changes,  in  which  they  first  appear 
as  constituents  of  the  human  organism; 
then  passing  into  the  vegetable,  then  into 
the  animal,  they  may  again  appear  in  the 
human  body,  introduced  through  the 
medium  of  foods.  This  round  may  con- 
tinue indefinitely  so  long  as  organized 
matter  exists.  Molecules  and  atoms  of 
human  bodies,  dismissed  from  service  by 
chemical  change,  become  part  of  the  general 
mass  of  earth  and  air,  and  are  in  no  way 
distinguishable.  To  suppose  therefore  that 
they  are  to  be  collected  together  in  a 
spiritual  world,  for  the  purpose  of  meeting 
the  assumed  necessities  of  a  "  day  of  judg- 
ment," is  to  degrade  one's  conceptions  of 


AFTER    DEATH,   WHAT?  l6l 

an  all-wise  Creator.  If  the  authoritative 
declaration  that  "  flesh  and  blood  "  cannot 
enter  into  the  future  state  did  not  exist, 
the  evidence  in  nature  is  abundant  and 
conclusive  to  prove  to  every  intelligent 
mind  that  it  cannot.  Assertions  that  the 
Almighty  could  hunt  up  the  molecules  of 
matter,  and  miraculously  rearrange  them 
into  the  same  human  forms  as  previously 
existed,  are  the  "cut  short"  arguments  of 
the  zealot. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  assume  that  there 
is  at  the  present  time,  in  the  Christian 
church,  a  general  belief  in  a  locality  in  the 
future  Me  where  combustion  is  maintained 
through  the  agency  of  the  element  sulphur. 
It  is,  however,  true  that  the  belief  was 
well-nigh  universal  until  within  a  period  of 
half  a  century,  and  it  is  still  widely  enter- 
tained in  some  quarters.  The  bearing  of 
science  upon  such  a  conception  of  what 
must  occur  in  a  future  life  is  direct  and 
specific.  Combustion  implies  physical 
change,  and  consequent  exhaustion  of 


1 62  AFTER   DEATH,   WHAT? 

material.  A  "Lake"  of  ignited  sulphur, 
large  enough  to  hold  all  the  wicked  who 
have  lived  upon  the  earth,  must  be  of 
immense  extent,  and  calls  for  an  enormous 
amount  of  material.  The  resultant  prod- 
uct of  this  combustion,  sulphurous  acid, 
is  an  irrespirable  gas;  and  its  assured 
presence  adds  to  the  difficulties  of  compre- 
hending, in  any  physical  view  of  the  prob- 
lem, how  fleshly  bodies  could  resist  the 
action  of  poisonous  gases  and  fires  for  so 
long  a  period  as  that  implied  in  the  term 
"forever."  Any  serious  consideration  of 
such  a  problem  is  unnecessary. 

The  view  of  occurrences  in  a  future  state 
which  may  be  called  scenic  or  panoramic, 
a  view  which  arranges  before  the  mind  vast 
processions  of  human  beings,  newly  arisen 
from  earthly  graves,  marching  to  a  place 
of  general  rendezvous,  where  the  awful 
scenes  of  a  last  Judgment  are  to  occur ;  the 
sound  of  trumpets,  the  presence  of  the 
angel  Gabriel,  the  wonderful  uprising  of 
the  "great  white  throne,"  on  which  is 


AFTER   DEATH,   WHAT?  163 

seated  no  less  a  presence  than  the  incom- 
prehensible, almighty  God  ;  —  these  views 
would  seem  to  be  not  well  adapted  to  sur- 
vive the  period  of  mediaeval  ignorance  and 
superstition. 

The  doctrines  of  a  resurrection  of  the 
fleshly  body,  a  day  of  final  judgment,  a 
region  or  place  where  physical  suffering  is 
inflicted  upon  the  wicked,  are  still  held  as 
fundamental  matters  of  belief  by  ecclesi- 
astical bodies.  They  do  not  however  enter 
into  the  belief  of  individual  members  of 
religious  organizations  generally  ;  but  the 
easy,  accommodating  relationship  existing 
at  present  between  pulpits  and  pews  per- 
mits of  the  presentation  of  inadmissible 
dogmas  without  public  dissent  and  without 
comment. 

Views  of  the  future  life,  as  held  by 
educated  clergymen,  theologians,  and  re- 
ligious teachers,  lack  uniformity  and  fixity ; 
they  are  the  views  of  individuals  rather 
than  of  organizations.  It  has  been  found, 
I  suppose,  impossible  to  embody  in  any 


164  AFTER    DEATH,   WHAT? 

written  creed  a  distinctive  form  of  belief 
as  to  the  nature  and  conditions  of  life  in 
the  future  state ;  and  hence  the  matter  has 
been  left  to  assume  such  outline  as  the 
mental  idiosyncrasies  of  individuals  might 
develop. 

The  wide  diversity  of  views  which  pre- 
vail is  often  brought  to  notice  in  the  pulpit 
discourses  of  clergymen.  An  example  of 
this  nature  was  afforded  a  congregation  in 
a  New  England  city  not  long  ago,  which 
caused  no  little  amusement  on  the  part  of 
listener 

A  distinguished  professor  of  theology 
occupied  a  pulpit  in  the  morning,  and  a 
popular  preacher  from  a  neighboring  parish 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  and  both 
had  for  a  topic :  Heaven,  and  the  nature 
and  conditions  of  life  in  the  future  state. 
The  heaven  of  the  professor,  a  man  of  a 
calm,  contemplative  temperament  and 
scholarly  habits,  corresponded  with  his 
peculiar  mental  idiosyncrasies.  It  was 
a  place  of  profound  repose,  where  phil- 


AFTER   DEATH,  WHAT?  1 65 

osophical  meditation  was  not  interrupted 
by  disturbances  incident  to  life.  The 
Supreme  Presence  was  veiled  in  awful 
majesty ;  and  the  chief  employment  was 
the  study  of  his  incomprehensible  nature, 
and  the  mystery  of  the  divine  government. 
The  popular  preacher  was  of  a  different 
make-up,  jovial,  active,  hopeful,  not  fond 
of  solemn  meditation  or  philosophical 
speculation.  His  heaven  was  a  place  of 
much  din  and  activity ;  it  had  its  social 
joys,  its  family  relationships,  its  congenial 
employments,  its  far-reaching  hopes.  The 
plague  of  the  study  of  life's  problems  was 
banished  forever,  and  light,  life,  and  joy 
were  everywhere.  The  last  preacher  car- 
ried his  hearers  with  him,  and  the  scholarly 
professor  was  left  without  support. 

The  biblical  teachings  upon  the  subject 
of  the  nature  of  a  future  life  are  not,  for 
wise  reasons  doubtless,  made  positive  and 
intelligible,  and  yet  the  hints  and  indirect 
statements  are  suggestive.  In  only  one 
instance  did  Jesus  push  aside  the  veil  far 


1 66  AFTER    DEATH,   WHAT? 

enough  to  afford  a  possible  view  from 
without.  In  the  dark  hour  of  his  cruci- 
fixion, he  assured  the  penitent  thief  that 
there  would  be  no  delay  in  his  entering 
into  the  new  life,  and  the  statement  that 
he  would  be  with  him  implies  social  con- 
ditions and  companionship.  There  is  much 
more  implied  in  this  promise  from  the  lips 
of  Jesus.  He  intended  to  convey  to  man- 
kind the  information  that  not  only  will 
death  introduce  at  once  the  freed  soul  to 
a  new  existence,  but  the  existence  will  be 
real,  personal,  social.  He  did  not  say  to 
the  thief,  this  day  thy  "  divine  essence,"  thy 
"ethereal  soul"  shall  be  with  mine;  but 
"  thou"  thyself,  "  shalt  be  with  me  in  para- 
dise." There  is  nothing  shadowy,  or 
dreamy,  in  this  declaration  of  the  divine 
Master. 

There  are  a  few  other  instances  in  the 
ministry  of  Jesus  when  he  spoke  words 
intended  to  supply  information  regarding 
the  conditions  of  a  future  life.  He  in- 
formed his  disciples  on  one  occasion  that 


AFTER    DEATH,   WHAT? 


"in  his  Father's  house  are  many  man- 
sions," implying  that  the  life  to  come  has 
conditions  corresponding  in  some  respects 
with  those  of  earth  ;  that  it  is  a  place  not 
to  be  regarded  as  a  vast  whole.  "Many 
mansions  "  implies  many  wants  and  essen- 
tial differences  in  taste  and  inclination  on 
the  part  of  the  occupants  of  that  realm. 
All  the  fragmentary  teachings  of  Jesus 
point  in  the  direction  of  an  order  of  condi- 
tion after  death,  in  close  correspondence 
with  material  life,  but  with  the  absence  of 
pain,  and  sin,  and  death. 

The  "  Old  Dispensation,"  so  called,  con- 
tains but  few  intimations  from  the  prophets 
and  other  writers  which  shed  light  upon 
the  problem  of  man's  state  after  death. 
The  one  remarkable  narrative  bearing 
upon  this  topic  is  found  in  the  28th,  29th, 
and  3oth  chapters  of  the  First  Book  of 
Samuel,  and  supplies  the  information  given 
by  the  venerable  prophet  to  Saul,  when 
he  returned  from  the  unseen  life  at  the 
summons  of  the  woman  of  Endor.  The 


1 68  AFTER    DEATH,  WHAT? 

story  may  be  epitomized  as  follows  :  Samuel 
died,  and  was  buried  with  distinguished 
honors,  prior  to  the  fatal  quarrel  between 
Saul  and  the  Philistines.  The  prophet 
came  out  of  the  invisible,  clothed  with  a 
mantle,  and  in  positive  terms  declared  to 
Saul  that  his  army  was  to  be  defeated,  and 
that  he  and  his  sons  were  to  die  in  the 
conflict.  The  prophet  was  right  in  the 
prediction  :  the  three  sons  were  killed  in 
battle,  and  Saul  was  so  desperately  wounded, 
that,  upon  the  refusal  of  his  armor-bearer 
to  kill  him,  he  committed  suicide  by  falling 
upon  his  sword. 

Samuel  said  to  Saul  at  the  interview  the 
day  before  the  battle,  "The  Lord  will  de- 
liver Israel  into  the  hands  of  the  Philistines, 
and  to-morrow  shalt  thou  and  thy  sons  be 
with  me"  The  prophet  returned  to  the 
unseen  world  immediately  after  the  inter- 
view. The  positive  statement  that  Saul 
and  his  sons  were  to  be  with  him  in  the 
future  state,  at  the  close  of  the  battle  on 
the  morrow,  is  remarkable. 


AFTER    DEATH,  WHAT?  169 

There  are  certain  questions  which  arise 
in  connection  with  this  statement  exceed- 
ingly troublesome  to  theologians  and  com- 
mentators of  fixed  beliefs,  —  questions 
which  may  as  well  remain  with  the  dis- 
putants. 

This  story,  upon  which  so  much  exeget- 
ical  acumen  has  been  expended  during  the 
centuries  since  the  Christian  era,  is  one  of 
the  most  direct,  unambiguous,  and  explicit 
to  be  found  in  the  biblical  writings ;  and 
no  commentator,  however  cunning  or  dex- 
terous, can  scarify  or  cut  out  the  narrative 
without  severing  the  carotid  duct  which 
carries  life  through  the  sacred  canon. 

The  two  prominent  instances  brought  to 
view,  found  in  the  sacred  writings,  reveal 
to  believers  something  of  the  nature  and 
conditions  of  a  future  life,  and  are  not 
contradictory  of  other  hints  contained  in 
those  writings.  In  one  we  have  the  direct 
words  of  Jesus  ;  in  the  other,  those  of  one 
of  the  most  revered  of  the  old  prophets, 
freshly  returned  from  the  experiences  of 


AFTER    DEATH,  WHAT? 


the  future  life.  There  is  a  striking  simi- 
larity in  the  statements  of  both.  Jesus 
said  to  the  dying  thief,  "  This  day  shalt 
thou  be  with  me  ;  "  Samuel  said  to  Saul, 
"  To-morrow  shalt  thou  be  with  me."  No 
words  could  more  positively  declare  con- 
tinuity of  life  in  entering  upon  the  future 
state  than  those  employed.  Also,  the 
direct  inference  is  that  the  good  and  the 
wicked  enter  at  death  the  same  spiritual 
world.  Jesus  and  the  penitent  malefactor, 
Samuel  and  the  wicked  Saul,  are  declared 
to  be  together  in  that  world.  It  is  further 
taught  that  there  is  a  door  of  communica- 
tion open  between  the  two  worlds.  Both 
Jesus  and  Samuel  died  and  were  buried, 
and  both  returned  to  the  physical  life 
again,  having  the  physical  form,  arrayed  in 
clothing,  with  sight,  hearing,  and  voice, 
and  they  again  participated  in  the  affairs 
of  the  world.  The  declarations  and  events 
prove  identity  and  personality  in  the  future 
state  ;  that  life  there  has  correspondences 
with  the  life  that  now  is. 


AFTER   DEATH,   WHAT?  I /I 

As  a  logical  inference,  we  have  no  right 
to  assume,  because  different  classes  are 
brought  together  in  the  new  life,  that  their 
conditions  are  not  dissimilar.  All  classes 
are  associated  together  here,  but  the  con- 
ditions under  which  they  live  are  widely 
different.  Jesus  and  Samuel  in  life  asso- 
ciated with  the  extremely  wicked  as  well 
as  with  the  virtuous  and  good,  and  there 
was  no  incongruity,  no  incompatibility 
discovered  in  the  association,  except  by 
the  hypocritical  Pharisees  in  the  case  of 
Jesus. 

Neither  the  divine  Master,  in  the  words 
spoken  to  his  suffering  companion  on  the 
cross,  nor  Samuel  in  those  spoken  to  Saul, 
promises  happiness  or  unhappiness  in  the 
state  upon  which  they  were  about  to 
enter ;  they  only  assert  that  they  will  be 
with  them. 

What  has  been  here  presented  must  be 
regarded  as  a  logical,  unbiased  view  of 
the  teachings  of  the  sacred  writings,  so 
far  as  it  is  contained  in  the  fragments 


172  AFTER   DEATH,  WHAT? 

brought  under  notice.  The  general  drift 
of  the  scriptural  writings  assumes  that 
there  is  to  be  a  vast  difference  in  the  con- 
dition of  the  evil  and  the  good  in  the 
future  life,  and  this  view  is  supported  by 
the  analogies  of  life  and  the  interior  sense. 
An  evil  life  on  earth  is  directly  opposed  to 
domestic  and  social  happiness,  to  progress 
in  moral  and  intellectual  advancement,  and 
to  the  attainment  of  any  good.  Of  the 
state  of  the  base  and  low  hereafter  we 
have  no  positive  knowledge.  The  indi- 
vidual entering  upon  the  new  life  must 
carry  with  him  much  of  the  terrestrial 
impress,  which  will  continue  for  a  longer 
or  shorter  time. 

Life  involves  continuity,  it  must  be  the 
same  life  continued  under  new  conditions. 
It  cannot  be  that  consciousness  is  broken ; 
the  united  testimony  of  observers  at  the 
moment  of  death  sustains  the  view  that, 
as  the  new  conditions  open  at  or  an  instant 
before  the  absolute  sundering  of  the  two 
natures,  the  mind  or  soul  is  endowed  with 


AFTER    DEATH,  WHAT?  173 

perfect  consciousness,  so  that  the  indi- 
vidual is  not  lost  in  ethereal  mist,  an  ocean 
of  nothing,  at  the  new  birth. 

If,  then,  the  spiritual  man  passes  at 
^once  into  the  new  life,  what  meets  him 
upon  the  threshold  ?  To  him  the  experi- 
ences are  wholly  new,  wholly  untried  ;  how 
can  a  soul,  precipitated  into  conditions 
involving  such  vast  change,  be  prepared  to 
meet  them  ?  The  blind  man,  suddenly 
restored  to  sight  by  the  surgeon,  is  not 
permitted  to  gaze  at  the  noonday  sun,  is 
not  permitted  even  to  walk  abroad  in  its 
diffusive  light,  until  the  organs,  by  gradual 
exposure,  become  fitted  to  the  new  condi- 
tions ;  and  so,  without  doubt,  the  emanci- 
pated soul  is  not  at  once  transported  to 
an  "  effulgent  heaven  "  (whatever  may  be 
meant  by  the  term  so  often  used),  but 
hovers  nearer  to  its  terrestrial  associations, 
distinctly  separated  from  them,  but  resting 
under  their  shadow. 

Man,  by  death,  does  not  pass  beyond 
the  directing  hand  of  the  great  and  good 


174  AFTER    DEATH,   WHAT? 

Being  who  provided  so  perfectly  for  all 
contingencies  incident  to  his  birth.  The 
loving  mother,  impelled  by  an  instinct 
which  she  can  neither  understand  or  resist, 
at  enormous  cost  of  personal  comfort,  and 
often  at  the  risk  of  life,  nestles  the  helpless 
infant  upon  her  bosom,  and  from  the  deep- 
est fountains  of  her  own  nature  provides 
the  pabulum  suited  to  the  tender  being 
placed  in  her  charge.  It  is  more  than 
probable  that  the  departed,  upon  their 
entrance  into  the  future  life,  will  meet 
those  who  will  be  guides  and  supports,  will 
be  all  that  earthly  mothers  have  been  ;  and 
to  many  the  same  mother,  gone  before, 
will  once  more  be  present  to  take  them 
by  the  hand  and  direct  them  forward  in 
the  new  life. 

If,  upon  entering  the  next  state,  one 
impression  or  emotion  is  more  prominent 
than  another,  it  will  be  undoubtedly  that 
of  surprise.  Human  beings  enter  that 
state  under  such  diverse  conditions,  with 
conceits,  opinions,  prejudices  of  every  kind, 


AFTER   DEATH,   WHAT? 


that  one  must  be,  as  it  were,  transfixed 
with  amazement  upon  fully  realizing  how 
far  aside  from  truth  have  been  those  con- 
ceits. The  first  surprise  will  probably  be 
to  learn  how  naturally  and  easily  the  spirit 
glides  into  its  new  condition,  and  how 
real  and  practical  is  the  life  upon  which 
it  enters.  Those  expecting  to  be  engaged 
at  once  in  psalm-singing  and  other  of  the 
peculiar  exercises  which  would  bring  the 
heavenly  hosts  into  resemblance  to  a  vast 
terrestrial  camp-meeting,  must  find  that 
the  Supreme  Father  has  provided  other 
and  higher  employments  for  his  emanci- 
pated children.  There  will  be  surprise 
that  a  personal  Deity  does  not  at  once 
come  into  view  ;  and  the  absence  of  a 
"throne"  and  the  paraphernalia  of  kingly 
authority  must  be  not  only  surprising  but 
disappointing  to  thousands. 

The  idea  with  many  is,  that  time  and 
individual  employment  cease  with  the 
close  of  life.  This  view  cannot  be  correct, 
as  it  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  design 


176  AFTER    DEATH,   WHAT? 

and  object  of  creation.  Time,  as  it  is 
noted  and  regulated  in  the  physical  exist- 
ence, may  no  longer  continue,  but  that 
time  ceases  to  be  recognized  is  a  view 
without  justification.  As  regards  employ- 
ment, no  need  of  the  human  soul  is  more 
fundamental ;  it  must  be  sustained  by 
effort,  and  that  probably  whether  it  is 
in  the  carnate  or  incarnate  condition. 
There  must  be  earnest  work  in  the  future 
life,  and  the  field  for  effort  may  be  even 
wider  than  it  is  here.  Thousands  of  un- 
taught, distressed  spirits  pass  into  the  new 
life  every  hour,  as  we  reckon  time,  and  it 
is  certainly  no  far-drawn  conclusion  that 
they  will  need  instruction  and  guidance. 
These  views  are  clearly  within  the  domain 
of  speculation,  but  they  are  founded  upon 
analogies  and  correspondences  open  to 
every  one's  observation. 

We  are  unmistakably  involved  in  much 
mystery  regarding  what  is  to  be ;  and  to 
many  the  impression  of  mystery  is  so  over- 
powering that  it  engenders  doubt  —  doubt 


AFTER    DEATH,  WHAT? 


as  to  \&&  possibility  of  a  future  life.  The 
mind  insensibly  gravitates  towards  agnos- 
ticism, unless  upheld  by  religious  faith  and 
a  close  study  of  the  nature  and  needs  of 
the  human  soul.  We  have  important  les- 
sons taught  in  what  has  been  accomplished 
by  scientific  research.  The  faithless  and 
the  doubting  may  with  profit  turn  to  the 
records  of  science  ;  they  will  thus  learn 
that  wonders  and  mysteries,  great  almost 
as  those  possible  to  be  realized  in  an 
exchange  of  worlds,  have  been  brought 
within  the  comprehension  and  control  of 
mind.  Do  we  not  every  day  converse  with 
unseen  friends  long  distances  away;  do 
we  not  recognize  their  familiar  voices,  in 
homes  separated  from  us  by  rivers,  woods, 
and  mountains  ?  These  voices  come  out 
of  the  darkness,  guided  by  a  frail  wire 
which  science  provides  as  a  pathway. 
Even  when  the  curtain  of  night  is  drawn 
about  us  the  voices  are  heard,  and  we  have 
not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  of  their  integ- 
rity and  identity. 


178  AFTER   DEATH,  WHAT? 

And  further,  have  we  not  wonders  of 
sight  which  startle  us  by  their  signifi- 
cance ?  Is  it  not  true  that  when  abroad 
we  are  open  to  the  view  of  unseen  observ- 
ers long  distances  from  us,  and  our  every 
act  and  movement  known  ?  The  excel- 
lence of  optical  instruments  is  such  that  I 
have  seen  the  motion  of  the  lips  of  persons 
in  conversation,  while  sitting  on  a  house 
balcony  three  miles  distant,  the  observed, 
of  course,  wholly  unconscious  of  being 
seen  by  any  one.  If  our  friends  in  this 
life,  dead  to  us  (hidden  as  they  are  by  the 
shroud  of  space),  can  be  seen,  and  we  can 
hear  their  voices,  their  shouts  of  laughter, 
the  words  of  the  hymns  they  sing,  the 
cries  of  the  little  ones  in  the  mother's 
arms,  is  it  very  absurd  to  anticipate  a  time 
when  those  dead  to  us  by  the  dissolution 
of  the  body  may,  by  some  unknown  tele- 
phony, send  to  us  voices  from  a  realm 
close  at  hand,  but  hidden  from  mortal 
vision  ? 


WHERE  ? 


IF  a  summons  should  come  from  the 
Supreme  Being,  requiring  the  inhabitants 
of  earth  to  leave  their  abodes  within  a 
given  time,  and  remove  to  another  planet 
fitted  up  for  their  reception,  the  order,  if 
given  even  with  assurances  that  the  new 
home  was  far  superior  to  earth,  would  be 
received  with  alarm,  and  fear  would  be 
stamped  upon  every  countenance.  The 
mandate  would  be  obeyed  reluctantly,  and 
removal  delayed  to  the  latest  moment. 
When,  however,  the  mighty  emigrating 
column  was  formed  and  put  in  motion,  fear 
would  give  way  in  part  to  curiosity,  and 
inquiries  would  be  made,  one  of  another : 
Where  is  this  new  world  to  which  we  are 
summoned  ?  Does  it  resemble  our  earth  ? 
Has  it  an  atmosphere,  has  it  oceans,  rocks, 

179 


ISO  WHERE? 

woods,  streams,  houses,  animals,  birds, 
fruits,  flowers  ?  Is  it  cold  or  hot  ?  Will 
clothing,  horses,  carriages,  ships,  railways, 
and  steamboats  be  required  ?  Who  will 
safely  conduct  us  onward,  who  will  meet 
us  and  impart  information  upon  our  arri- 
val ?  These  and  many  other  questions 
would  be  asked,  but  no  one  could  answer 
even  a  single  inquiry.  While  none  of  the 
living  expect  to  receive  a  summons  of  this 
nature,  it  is  certain  that  every  inhabitant 
of  our  planet  has  positive  orders  to  leave 
it  at  some  undivulged  moment,  and  no  one 
of  sound  mind  supposes  that  he  can  evade 
the  summons.  Mankind  know  that  in 
death  they  are  not  ordered  to  another 
planet,  with  its  physical  conditions  and 
needs,  but  where  they  must  go  they  have 
no  knowledge.  The  feeling  of  fear  which 
pervades  the  mind  in  contemplating  the 
great  change  often  becomes  subordinate  to 
curiosity,  and  an  array  of  questions  corre- 
sponding with  those  suggested  come  up 
in  the  mind  and  wait  for  a  response. 


WHERE?  l8l 

No  one  of  the  interrogatories  possesses 
greater  interest  or  is  oftener  heard  than 
that  which  has  reference  to  place.  Where 
is  the  unknown  world?  Where  shall  we 
go  when  death  overtakes  us  ? 

There  is  but  little  that  can  be  postulated 
regarding  the  place  where  the  soul  finds 
rest  at  the  close  of  life.  Science  has  only 
negative  testimony  to  offer,  and  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Christian  religion  are  singu- 
larly unmeaning  and  vague  upon  the  sub- 
ject. There  is  no  statement  in  the  histories 
of  Jesus,  none  in  the  writings  of  the  apos- 
tles, which  convey  any  clear  idea  of  where 
the  spiritual  world  is.  It  is  probable  that 
no  one  of  the  writers  had  greater  knowl- 
edge of  the  matter  than  is  possessed  by 
men  of  our  epoch ;  and  Jesus,  knowing 
that  in  no  form  of  words  could  he  convey 
to  the  ignorant  men  around  him  even  an 
imperfect  idea  of  it,  refrained  from  dis- 
coursing upon  the  subject.  It  certainly 
was  not  necessary  to  the  success  of  his 
mission  that  he  should  reveal  the  great 


1 82  WHERE? 

secret,  however  much  it  might  gratify  the 
curiosity  of  those  eager  to  ask  questions. 

The  views  of  the  future  world  which 
prevail  among  many  devout  Christians  are 
largely  drawn  from  the  book  of  Revelation, 
and  whoever  wrote  the  book  is  responsible 
for  introducing  into  men's  minds  notions 
which  may  properly  be  designated  as  fan- 
tastic. The  writing  is  of  the  nature  of  an 
incoherent  dream,  and  probably  not  de- 
signed to  convey  information  regarding  the 
future  world.  Ideas  of  a  "  kingdom  "  with 
cities  surrounded  with  walls,  and  having 
massive  gates,  belong  to  an  age  prior  to 
the  invention  of  gunpowder  and  eighty- 
ton  guns. 

The  future  world  has  been  for  centuries 
regarded  as  a  fixed  locality,  situated  some- 
where in  the  unknown  regions  of  space ; 
and  ideal  conceptions  give  to  it  materiality 
corresponding  with  that  of  our  own  little 
planet.  The  language  of  Jesus,  where, 
allusions  are  made  to  the  future  state,  con- 
veys impressions  of  a  locality  ;  and  in  this 


WHERE  ?  183 

we  see  evidence  of  divine  wisdom,  as  it 
would  have  been  impossible  to  have  held 
his  followers  to  any  satisfactory  realization 
of  another  life,  without  illustrations  and 
comparisons  adapted  to  their  imperfect 
and  limited  knowledge.  There  is  no 
evidence  that  in  his  acts  of  devotion  he 
assumed  attitudes,  or  directed  his  attention 
towards  any  fixed  quarter.  He  is  spoken 
of  as  having  "  looked  up,"  and  this  would 
be  natural,  as  he  was  constantly  in  the 
open  air,  and  there  is  no  direction  in  which 
the  attention  is  more  naturally  drawn, 
when  in  contemplative  moods,  than  towards 
the  blue  vault  over  us,  so  full  of  beauty  and 
mystery.  It  is  usual  in  acts  of  devotion 
among  individuals  and  religious  bodies  to 
turn  the  gaze  upwards,  and  to  this  there 
can  be  no  objection.  It  may  serve  to 
direct  the  mind  into  channels  promotive  of 
awe  and  sublimity,  and  thus  develop  exalted 
feeling.  If,  however,  we  assume  that  atti- 
tude with  the  supposition  that  the  future 
world  is  above  us,  and  that  there  is  the 


184  WHERE? 

dwelling-place  of  the  Almighty,  the  sup- 
position must  be  groundless.  The  terms 
"up"  and  "down  "  are  vague  and  confus- 
ing enough  when  used  in  connection  with 
terrestrial  concerns,  but  when  applied  to 
the  regions  of  space  they  are  absolutely 
meaningless.  We  live  upon  a  little  mass 
of  rock  which  is  in  ceaseless  and  rapid 
motion.  In  its  flight  around  the  sun  it  has 
a  velocity  almost  inconceivable ;  and,  turn- 
ing as  it  does  once  every  day  upon  its  axis, 
its  position  is  one  of  constant  change.  If 
the  unknown  world  was  "  up  "  at  meridian 
of  any  day,  it  would  be  "down"  at  the 
hour  of  midnight  of  the  same  day;  and 
the  movement  of  the  earth  in  its  orbit  is 
rapid,  it  does  not  stop  for  an  instant  in  its 
flight.  These  are,  however,  but  elementary 
facts,  brought  to  view  only  to  call  attention 
to  some  popular  errors  in  celestial  dynam- 
ics. There  are  other  and  more  weighty 
considerations  which  have  a  bearing  upon 
one's  conceptions  of  a  fixed  place  or  locality 
as  the  home  of  disembodied  spirits.  The 


WHERE?  185 

mechanics  and  dynamics  of  our  solar 
system,  with  its  sun,  planets,  satellites, 
asteroids,  and  meteorites,  seem  dwarfed  in 
comparison  with  the  vast  stellar  universe 
which  is  in  part  open  to  view  as  we  gaze 
into  the  blue  vault  over  us. 

In  discussing  this  question  of  a  place,  it 
becomes  necessary,  as  a  preliminary,  to 
bring  to  view  some  of  the  remarkable  facts 
and  results  of  modern  astronomical  re- 
search. At  the  time  of  the  advent  of  the 
founder  of  the  Christian  faith,  there  was 
no  existing  knowledge  of  the  mechanism  of 
the  universe.  Solar,  planetary,  and  stellar 
physics,  as  now  understood,  were  forms  of 
knowledge  of  which  no  one  living  at  that 
period  had  the  slightest  conception.  All 
the  learning  of  the  age  was  based  on  wrong 
hypotheses,  and  superstition  usurped  and 
controlled  the  best  powers  of  the  mind. 
A  superficial  consideration  even  of  these 
facts  will  serve  to  show  how  exceedingly 
difficult  was  the  work  of  the  divine  Master, 
in  establishing  in  the  minds  of  his  followers 


1 86  WHERE? 

correct  views  of  God  as  exhibited  in  his 
works.  They  did  not  know  of  the  nature 
of  his  works,  and  therefore  could  not  gain 
insight  into  his  plans  and  stupendous 
designs.  They  were  as  children,  docile, 
and  teachable,  but  the  alphabet  of  nature 
they  had  not  learned. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  impor- 
tant results  of  modern  research  is,  that 
astronomical  science  is  no  longer  depend- 
ent upon  mathematics  and  telescopes  for 
some  of  its  demonstrable  facts.  By  the 
aid  of  new  optical  devices,  the  chemistry 
of  other  worlds  is  made  known ;  and  the 
chemist  of  the  present  epoch  speaks  as 
confidently  of  elements  present  in  the  sun, 
fixed  stars,  and  cometary  bodies,  as  he 
does  of  those  known  to  be  common  to  the 
earth.  It  seems  no  less  than  miraculous 
that  the  study  of  metals  can  be  conducted 
upon  bodies  millions  of  miles  distant. 
These  results  do  not  rest  upon  hypothesis ; 
the  assertions  of  science  in  this  regard 
are  not  the  imaginings  of  a  wild  fancy; 


WHERE 


they  are  facts.  It  is  known  that  upon 
the  sun,  a  body  of  ninety-three  millions 
of  miles  distant,  the  metal  iron  is  present 
in  vast  quantities,  in  a  volatilized  condition  ; 
and  this  is  known  with  as  much  positive- 
ness  as  it  would  be  if  the  word  "  IRON  " 
were  written  in  broad  letters  across  the 
sun's  disc.  Several  other  metals  are  also 
known  to  be  present  at  the  sun.  Hydro- 
gen forms  an  important  element  in  the 
constitution  of  cometary  and  nebulous 
bodies  and  the  fixed  stars.  It  is  certain 
that  the  stars  Sirius  and  Vega  contain  it, 
and  it  is  identical  with  that  of  the  sun  and 
the  earth.  There  is  no  doubt  that  sodium 
is  present  at  Aldebaran,  and  magnesium 
at  Capella,  and  that  the  metals  correspond 
with  those  of  terrestrial  origin.  Analysis 
of  meteorites,  those  bodies  which  come  to 
us  from  the  regions  of  space,  shows  that 
they  are  composed  of  elementary  bodies 
corresponding  to  those  common  to  our 
planet.  Meteoric  bodies  are  now  supposed 
to  come  from  the  stellar  spaces,  and  con- 


1 88  WHERE? 

sequently  do  not  belong  to  our  solar 
system.  If  this  view  be  correct,  and  it 
probably  is,  they  afford  us  specimens  of 
bodies  moving  in  that  incomprehensible 
far-off  region  where  are  found  comets  and 
nebulae. 

The  design  in  what  has  been  stated  is 
to  show  that  throughout  the  vast  universe 
there  is  identity  of  matter  and  of  law; 
that  we  have  almost  positive  knowledge 
that  the  Almighty  has  constituted  all 
worlds  on  the  same  general  plan  as  our 
earth,  and  the  materials  entering  into 
their  structures  are  similar.  If  chemists 
exist  upon  any  of  the  distant  orbs,  they 
must  conform  essentially  to  the  methods 
of  analysis  known  to  chemists  here,  as 
their  agents  and  the  reactions  would  be 
the  same. 

In  looking  "  up "  to  the  starry  hosts  to 
discover  a  place  adapted  to  the  needs  of 
spiritual  beings,  we  utterly  fail  to  find  one. 
All  is  matter,  corresponding  with  terres- 
trial matter,  and  governed  by  the  same 


WHERE?  189 

laws.  It  is  not  philosophical  or  rational 
to  suppose  that  a  soul,  freed  from  its 
material  associations  here,  would  seek  the 
same  conditions  and  be  subject  to  the 
same  laws  on  a  body  thousands  of  millions 
of  miles  distant.  Immaterial  spirit  cannot 
be  supposed  to  seek  material  environment 
again  on  another  planet,  becoming  once 
more  a  physical  organism,  to  pass  once 
more  through  the  change  of  death. 

For  a  long  time  after  Maedler's  theory 
of  a  "central  sun"  was  promulgated, about 
forty  years  ago,  it  was  a  favorite  topic  of 
discourse  among  "pulpit  philosophers." 
It  was  assumed  that,  on  that  theory,  very 
plausible  ideas  of  a  place  for  the  future 
life  could  be  entertained,  and  almost  the 
exact  locality  of  ."heaven"  and  the  dwell- 
ing-place of  God  pointed  out.  Maedler 
asserted  as  probable  that  the  stars  are 
moving  in  closed  orbits  around  some  cen- 
tral point  in  the  unknown  depths  of  space ; 
and  it  was  at  this  pivotal  point  that  heaven 
was  located,  in  the  view  of  many  worthy 


WHERE? 


clergymen.  The  speculation  had  at  first 
but  slender  grounds  to  rest  upon,  and  it 
does  not  at  present,  so  far  as  we  know, 
receive  support  from  a  single  distinguished 
astronomer.  It  is  disproved  by  observa- 
tions and  calculations  which  carry  irre- 
sistible weight. 

The  attempt  so  often  made  to  find  a 
material  place  for  the  departed,  originate 
in  a  desire  to  satisfy  the  earnest  longings 
of  the  impatient  and  curious,  and  also  to 
relieve  the  advocates  of  religious  systems 
from  the  charge  that  their  systems  are 
defective,  inasmuch  as  they  leave  the  soul 
without  a  home  at  the  hour  of  death. 
These  attempts  are  manifestly  based  on 
wrong  conceptions  of  the  nature  and  re- 
quirements of  the  spiritual  man,  and  must 
be  fruitless.  Psychical  philosophy,  as 
learned  from  the  study  of  man's  dual 
nature,  the  analogies  of  life,  the  evidence 
afforded  in  the  instances  of  the  exaltation 
of  the  faculties  of  mind,  and  a  fair  in- 
terpretation of  the  hints  and  declarations 


WHERE  ?  IQI 

of  the  founder  of  the  Christian  faith,  all 
conspire  to  show  that  the  future  home  of 
the  soul  is  not  a  material  world.  Matter 
and  spirit  are  distinct  entities,  capable  of 
intimate  association  under  the  laws  and 
conditions  of  material  life ;  but  when  dis- 
sociated they  require  and  assume  states 
and  conditions  totally  dissimilar.  It  is 
exceedingly  difficult  for  the  human  mind 
to  conceive  of  any  state  distinct  from,  and 
unlike  the  physical  state,  and  all  our  an- 
ticipations, views,  and  longings  even,  are 
based  on  what  we  know  of  actual  life  here 
It  has  often  been  hinted  and  stated  in 
preceding  essays  that  spirit  isolated  from 
its  physical  associations  in  the  body  no 
longer  remains  under  the  control  cf  physi- 
cal laws,  but  is  a  law  unto  itself  so  far  as 
barriers  are  involved  which  impede  and 
limit  terrestrial  capabilities.  It  has  been 
stated,  —  and  illustrative  instances  pre- 
sented,—  that  mind,  in  what  I  have  ven- 
tured to  designate  as  its  exalted  condition, 
overleaps  all  physical  barriers  ;  that  sight, 


WHERE  ? 


hearing,  touch,  taste,  smell,  all  become 
independent  of  ordinary  physical  limita- 
tions, and  enter  upon  a  new  and  enlarged 
field  of  susceptibilities  and  capabilities. 
The  idea  is  (and  this  has  before  been 
stated)  that  mind  or  spirit  is  capable  of 
entering  into  spiritual  relationships,  into 
the  new  conditions  of  existence,  before  its 
final  separation  from  the  body.  This  im- 
plies that  all  ideas  of  a  material  place  or 
locality,  using  the  terms  in  the  ordinary 
sense,  constituting  a  future  world,  must  be 
erroneous  and  based  on  the  impossible. 
The  exalted  mind  faculties,  in  order  to 
enter  the  future  state,  are  not  required  to 
travel,  so  to  speak,  billions  of  miles  to  find 
a  specific  place  or  kingdom,  but  the  world 
of  spiritual  existences  is  nigh  unto  us,  and 
•we  have  only  to  put  otit  our  hands  to  reach  it. 
Among  the  instances  of  exalted  sensation 
which  have  come  under  my  notice  during 
the  last  third  of  a  century,  and  which  have 
been  subjected  to  thorough  and  protracted 
study  and  experiment,  I  recall  those  of 


WHERE?  193 

two  ladies  of  the  highest  character  and 
social  standing.  These  ladies  have  fre- 
quently, in  the  trance  condition,  so  called, 
engaged  in  conversation  with  unseen  intel- 
ligences, alleged  to  be  departed  friends, 
standing  near  them,  whom  they  asserted 
they  could  distinctly  see  and  touch.  These 
scenes,  as  described  by  the  one  and  the 
other,  in  homes  widely  separated,  were  in 
striking  correspondence ;  and  the  alleged 
appearances,  the  information  conveyed,  des- 
criptions of  the  future  home,  etc.,  were  in 
such  congruous  and  intelligent  accord  that 
the  most  intense  interest  was  awakened. 
The  results  of  experiments  in  like  exalta- 
tions of  mind  on  the  part  of  others  have 
been  found  to  be  uniformly  alike  where  the 
parties  have  been  of  the  educated  and  in- 
telligent class. 

The  impression,  to  one  intently  watch- 
ing and  directing  these  experiments,  is 
almost  that  of  awe.  The  conviction  is  irre- 
pressible, that  one  is  brought  into  close 
contiguity  with  the  mysteries  of  the  unseen 


IQ4  WHERE? 

life,  that  the  claim  on  the  part  of  the  per- 
sons in  the  exalted  sense  condition,  that 
they  are  looking  behind  the  veil,  is  valid 
and  truthful.  It  is  only,  however,  within 
the  sacred  precincts  of  well-regulated  and 
orderly  homes  that  such  phenomena  are 
observed  with  any  degree  of  satisfaction. 

I  have  brought  to  view  briefly  this  class 
of  evidences  of  the  nature  and  conditions 
of  the  future  life,  and  permitted  it  to  have 
weight,  knowing  that  by  many  it  will  be 
rejected  as  belonging  to  fallacies  and  de- 
lusions unworthy  of  serious  consideration. 
It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the 
scales  in  which  is  weighed  the  evidence 
regarding  alleged  new  truths  should  be 
accurately  adjusted,  that  any  dust,  due  to 
the  imagination,  to  illusion  or  trick,  should 
be  entirely  removed ;  this  careful  research 
demands.  It  is  however  of  equal  impor- 
tance that,  in  physical  or  psychical  investi- 
gations, the  balances  should  not  be  ob- 
structed in  their  movements  by  obstinate 
conceits,  religious  or  scientific  dogmas,  or 


WHERE  ?  195 

in  any  way  influenced  by  that  rigidity  of 
mind  which  admits  of  no  new  truths  unless 
capable  of  being  brought  within  the  domain 
of  mathematics.  The  history  of  science 
in  the  past  twenty  years  decidedly  shows 
that  it  is  safest  and  best  not  to  dogmatize 
too  confidently  as  regards  what  is  or  what 
is  not  possible.  Light  breaks  in  upon  the 
field  of  knowledge  often  from  unexpected 
sources. 

The  unknown  world  to  which  mankind 
are  hastening  is  assumed  to  be  near  us. 
It  is  a  world  which  we  cannot  see  in  our 
normal  state,  a  world  which  is  uninflu- 
enced by  laws  which  govern  matter  as  we 
understand  them.  So  long  as  we  do  not 
know  what  matter  is,  do  not  know  whether 
the  assumed  atoms  are  held  by  cohesive 
attraction,  or  whether  they  are  only  vor- 
tices, like  smoke-rings,  existing  in  the  uni- 
versal ether,  which  is  itself  hypothetical, 
we  cannot  safely  postulate  as  regards  the 
actual  nature  of  what  we  think  we  see 
around  us.  The  unknown  world  close  at 


196  WHERE  ? 

hand  must  be  intimately  associated  with 
the  terrestrial,  and  the  view  affords  ground 
for  belief  that,  like  man,  material  worlds 
are  dual  in  their  nature.  There  is  no 
more  improbability  in  the  supposition  that 
the  spiritual  world  exists  within,  and  per- 
meates the  physical,  than  that  spirit  exists 
within  physical  man,  and  permeates  the 
material  organism.  There  are  striking  anal- 
ogies brought  to  view  by  the  supposition, 
and  the  thought  is  of  an  interesting  nature. 
As  has  been  shown  in  the  essay  on 
"  The  Spiritual  Man,"  duality  appears  to 
be  an  order  of  nature,  a  law  of  material 
and  immaterial  constitution  and  construc- 
tion;  and  in  assuming  as  an  hypothesis 
that  worlds,  like  man,  are  dual,  consisting 
of  a  material  and  a  spiritual  domain,  we 
do  no  violence  to  observed  facts  and  anal- 
ogies. There  may  be  in  nature  but  two 
forms  of  existing  things,  so  to  speak,  mat- 
ter and  spirit ;  and  these,  in  association  or 
separate,  control  and  dominate,  under 
Divine  guidance,  the  universe. 


WHERE  ?  197 

When,  in  obedience  to  the  universal 
law  of  decay  and  change,  our  planet 
reaches  its  dotage,  and  is  changed,  its 
condition,  whatever  it  may  be,  whether 
that  of  volatilization  by  heat  or  that  of  ice 
by  cold,  or  whether  it  disintegrates,  and, 
leaving  its  orbit,  becomes  a  wanderer  in 
space,  in  no  way  will  it  influence  the  spir- 
itual world  with  which  it  is  now  allied. 
That,  like  spirit  in  man,  is  indestructible. 
The  body  may  be  burned  by  fire  while  the 
spirit  is  present,  but  the  casualty  in  no 
way  affects  the  spirit,  which  resists  the 
action  of  all  agents  destructive  to  the 
body  ;  and  so  our  planet  may  be  volatil- 
ized by  heat,  and  the  molecules  driven  to 
the  remotest  bounds  of  space,  but  the 
spiritual  home  of  the  world's  inhabitants 
must  remain,  will  remain,  for  it  cannot  be 
destroyed. 

Spirit  is  eternal,  and  so  must  be  the 
spiritual  world,  our  final  habitation.  We 
may  reasonably  anticipate  a  time  when 
the  spiritual  domain  will  be  better  under- 


198  •  WHERE  ? 

stood  than  at  present,  for  it  is  impossible 
that  it  can  be  in  accordance  with  the 
Divine  intention  that  progress  shall  alone 
be  made  in  knowledge  of  physics.  A  ray 
of  light  is  already  observed  darting  over 
the  distant  hill-tops,  and  it  gives  promise 
of  more  diffusive  beams,  which  will  pene- 
trate the  darkness  that  hides  the  future 
world  from  view. 


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